A Touch of Magic
by TealEmperor
Summary: Our beloved MCSM, but with a Magic/Fairy Tale AU applied. A once-happy world is thrown into chaos due to one man's need for revenge, and so it called out for a hero. It didn't get a hero. Instead, it got a nervous dork with a spotted past and magic he doesn't know how to use. We're probably doomed.
1. Chapter 1

**Some weird Magic/Fairy Tale AU I came up with for MCSM. It's inspired by** _ **Merlin, OUAT,**_ **and a few other fantasy books and such.**

 **Because this is an AU, some characters' personas might be slightly altered, but the heart of their characterization will be preserved. Also, the characters' speech is a bit more fancy, given the nature of the setting.**

 **Uses the first variant of M!Jesse. To make him distinct, let's call him Jaysse.**

Magic was highly illegal in the prosperous Kingdom of Murex, and on the outskirts of that kingdom, there was a house simply saturated with it. It was hardly a nice house. The floorboards creaked terribly, and the roof was crooked. Rain sounded like rollicking drums as it beat against the shallow walls. Odious smoke poured out of the chimney any day of the week. The house was adjoined by an herb garden, and a rabbit pen sat behind it. It was the home of an eccentric mother and her eccentric son.

"Were it not for the magic holding this house together, it would collapse in on itself," she explained as she flipped through the pages of a ragged spellbook. "I must find the spell which will strengthen the bonds."

"What is in need of reinforcement?" asked her son. "The supports, the roof, the windows?"

"All of those things, and more still! I do wish I had taken notes with more clarity. This is almost as hard to read as those scrolls from the desert kingdoms!"

"You, at least, can read them. I looked at them one time, and all I saw were a lot of strange drawings. Mother, is it true that the drawings stand for letters? Why do they not just use proper lettering? Surely that would be more practical."

"They stand for both lettering and entire words, Jaysse," she said, her tone a bit condescending. "A difficult field of study, I shall admit. I prefer runes to hieroglyphics, and even then, I believe Latin lettering to be the superior. However, there are many old spells that have not been translated, and thus necessitated learning their native script and language."

"When will you teach me? I have been asking for...I do not even remember how long."

"I will when you are older and more experienced in the skills you already possess," Jaysse's mother said, in her default response to the request.

Jaysse groaned in frustration. "But you always say that! Every time I ask, you say that I must wait until I am older. Well, I _am_ older now! Eighteen years, that is my age! Why is that not old enough?"

"Jaysse…" she said sternly. "You are not to take that tone with your mother."

Jaysse sighed, but he backed down. He knew, from past experience, that continuing to act up would anger her, and an incensed Nimue was terrifying. He much preferred the calm, if somewhat condescending, Nimue.

He rested his elbows on the table whereupon his mother was heating water and crushing herbs. "I suppose I can wait a little while longer."

"Indeed you can. Do you know what you can also do?"

"What?" He glanced up at her. She didn't look down at him. Her bizarre scarlet-colored eyes, like the color of a flaming sunset, were focused on her work.

"At length, I found the spells for which I have searched. I also realized that we are clean out of lavender and dreamshade."

Jaysse frowned, sensing the imminent assignment of a chore.

"Would it trouble you to run down to the meadow out back and pick some?"

He was quiet for half a minute, before finally conceding. "All right. How much of each do you want?"

"Two bundles of lavender and one bundle of dreamshade. And, please, use caution when picking the dreamshade. It is-"

"-Very toxic, I know," Jaysse finished the sentence for her. "Worry not. I will be careful."

"I have seen sorcerers who were not careful around dreamshade," Nimue mused. "Or rather, I have seen what remained of them."

Jaysse, who had just pulled his leather satchel off its hook, paused. "What do you mean?"

"The fools mistook the dreamshade for an ordinary plant and harvested it without a care. A dreadful mistake, that was! The thorns scraped upon their skin and the dreamshade leaked its poison into their blood. They had only enough time to consider their fate before they died. I saw the black blood in their veins and the lesions on their skin."

"Horrifying!" Jaysse said, aghast.

"Now you see why I warn you so. Dreamshade is full of useful magic, but only when its poison has been canceled by another reagent. Please, do be careful when you pick it. Do not even smell the plant."

"Mother, I will do no such thing," Jessie promised.

"Splendid. You should find them in the meadow, as I said."

Jaysse nodded and checked to make sure he had his shears, for pruning plants, in his satchel. Then he rubbed some kohl under his eyes, which would help cut the sun's glare as he worked. He shouldered the satchel, said good-bye to his mother for the time being, and left in a hurry. The door slammed shut in his wake. Jaysse rounded about the cottage and headed toward the meadow behind it.

It was about a half league away. Forests flanked the meadow, glimmering emerald green in the summer sun. Jaysse rarely ventured therein, as he was afraid of the animals and monsters said to lurk in the shadows. There were lighter woodlands south of his home to provide whatever resources the meadow lacked. He had also heard stories of irascible lumber-men and fur trappers who would not take kindly to a scrappy hermit boy on "their" land.

Still, Jaysse did not want to pay those hooligans any mind. There was a delicious summer day to be enjoyed. The ankle-deep, sun-warmed grass felt good on his bare feet. His too-big tunic fluttered in the wind. The way it billowed around his lean frame made him feel light and free, almost as if he had wings.

No-one set any grazing animals on the meadow, so the greenery was overgrown. The grass reached up to Jaysse's knees, and the flowers formed colorbursts all over the hills. Jaysse sighed, breathing in the sweet, hay-smelling air of the vale. He bent over slightly and scanned the field, looking for the lavender and dreamshade.

The task was harder than he had expected. The field blazed with more dandelions than stars in the sky, making it difficult to spot any other kind of plant. Clusters of crabgrass and clover mushroomed over the ground. Jaysse mistook a growth of wolfsbane for lavender and an ordinary bramble for dreamshade. However, he was actually glad for the latter case, as the thorns scratched his arm when he reached for the plant. Had that actually been dreamshade, it would have injected its poison into his blood and ensured his death. He would have stupidly done the exact thing Nimue had warned him about.

He eventually found the lavender growing by a small creek. He grabbed two large fistfuls of the sweet purple flowers and stuck them in his satchel. Lavender oil is a known calming agent, and as such, a whiff of the flowers' delicate scent eased his anxieties over the dreamshade. He reminded himself to be more careful picking thorny plants from now on.

To find the dreamshade, Jaysse had to walk to the other side of the meadow. There, the ground rose up into a rugged crag. A sad jumble of hard vines clustered near the top. Thorns stuck out of the vines at odd angles, and a black fluid oozed from those thorns.

"Dreamshade," Jaysse said. He started climbing the crag. He scraped his knees on the rocks, but otherwise, the climb was without incident. He paced in a circle about the dreamshade plant, trying to figure out the best strategy to harvest it. Certainly he couldn't just pluck a vine from the plant as if it were a harmless flower. At length, he took the shears from his satchel and cautiously approached the dreamshade. Watching the deadly dark gunge drip from the thorns, Jaysse held a vine between his fingers, careful to avoid the thorns. Then he brought up the shears and lopped the vine from the plant. Very carefully he pulled it away and stored it in his satchel, in a pocket separate from the lavender.

He slipped down from his perch upon the crag and turned to go back home. However, a figure emerged from the forest and made its way into the valley. Jaysse ducked behind the crag for shelter. He panicked somewhat. He could not even remember the last time another person came to this valley. Wondering what the reason for their presence was, he allowed another peek. To his surprise, the stranger was a woman. Her armor, decorated with the insignia of Murex, shone like a mirror. It must have been newly polished. She carried a sword. She wore no helmet, putting her short reddish hair on full display. And Jaysse noticed, with no small amount of dismay, that this woman was headed straight for the crag with the dreamshade.

 _Is she...Is she going to pick some of that dreamshade?_ he wondered. _Surely not. Surely she knows its dangers...the magic pulsing within it._

Even through the leather folds of the satchel, Jaysse could feel the magic flowing inside the dreamshade. Or perhaps he was more sensitive to it, being magical himself. After all, his mother was a strong sorceress, and her magic was in his blood, too.

But what did this royal guard woman want with dreamshade, of all things? If she worked for his majesty himself, surely she would know about the laws against magic and the possession of magical items. That would be one of the first things they would teach a new soldier in the army. Or maybe…?

There were many theories, so Jaysse lay in wait to see what would happen.

The woman was young, not really any older than Jaysse, it would seem. She approached the crag wearing the stoic expression of an experienced warrior. Without hesitation she sheathed her sword and then began to climb the hill. Unlike Jaysse, the stranger (not an unattractive stranger either, Jaysee observed) easily ascended the crag without scraping her knees.

However, it was obvious that she knew nearly nothing about plants. She carelessly reached for the dreamshade, as if it was a common dandelion and not brimming with deadly toxins. Jaysse gritted his teeth in panic. The last thing he wanted was to see the girl scratch the skin on her exposed arms and sentence herself to painful death. She would be startled by the sudden appearance of Jaysse, but that was preferable to…

"Wait!" Jaysse cried out, exploding from his hiding-place. He stumbled onto the rocky hill. He waved his hands fervently at her.

Mercifully, the girl paused, albeit because she was confused. "What?"

"Do not pick that plant!" he warned. "Do you know what it is?"

The girl shrugged. "Thorny brambles. I was asked to find some."

Jaysse shook his head. "Oh, no, ma'am. Those are no ordinary brambles. That is a dreamshade plant. It is very toxic."

"Is it?" she challenged. She reached for it again.

"No! Please, refrain from picking it. If the thorns scratch your skin and the poison gets into your blood, you will die. Inevitably and painfully."

"I find that hard to believe."

A hawk passed overhead. The bird was carrying a mouse it had caught, but it abruptly lost grip of the rodent and dropped it as it flew over Jaysse and the young woman. The mouse survived the fall and scuttled across the rocks, but scraped its back on a dreamshade thorn as it did so. It was dead within the minute.

The woman gasped. "So this is true?"

"Deadly poison pulses inside that plant. It is best to let one more experienced pick it. Why do you require dreamshade, ma'am?"

"I...It was an assignment from my superior," the girl explained. "The king wants to grow a bramble fence around the farmlands of Murex, in order to protect them from wild beasts and rogues. I was sent to find a bramble plant, that we might grow more brambles from it."

"Surely you would not need something as potent as dreamshade."

"I did not know it was dreamshade. You...I believe you spared me from possible death." She looked at the toxic plant and then at Jaysse. "Um, thank you."

"You are welcome. So you are part of the king's army?"

"Not just the army. I am in the Royal Guard."

"Congratulations." Jaysse's tone straddled sincere and sarcastic.

"My name is Petra. How are you named, hermit?" She crossed her arms.

"Jaysse," he responded.

"Jay-sse? Odd." Then she noticed Jaysse's bemused expression and quickly added, "But nice, and certainly unique. Like you."

"It stems from the name Jesse. Which means 'gift' in Hebrew. My mother said she called me so because I was a gift to her."

"You know what your name means? Most do not know such things."

"You said your name was Petra? That is Greek. Means 'stone.' It is the feminine form of Petros, from which we derive the name Peter."

Petra looked stunned. "You are smarter than I would expect a hermit to be."

"Is that compliment or an insult?"

"I meant it as a compliment. Do you live out here in the wild, Jaysse? You have the look of a hermit. What with the torn clothes and the...what is that under your eyes?"

"Kohl," Jaysse said.

"Coal rocks?"

"No, not that. Kohl is a kind of eyeliner. I put it under my eyes to reduce sun glare. The sun is very bright in an open meadow."

"Quite. What were you doing out here?"

"Looking for lavender flowers. Uh, if you need help finding thorny brambles…"

"You could help me?"

"I think I would be able."

"But I should not bring dreamshade to the king."

"No. Not only is it very toxic, it is also very magical, and we know how the king hates magic."

"Magical?" Petra shot him a suspicious look. "How would you know that dreamshade is magical?"

Jaysse bit his lip.

Her eyes narrowed. "Did you…"

"I just know so from botany books," Jaysse stammered. Guilt stabbed him in the gut for lying, but telling Petra the truth would endanger himself.

The captain of the guard nodded slowly, as if unsure whether she believed him or not. "Botany books. I suppose that is expected. You seem like a learned person, even if you are a hermit."

Jaysse stifled his relieved sigh.

"You are quite right, though. It would be stupid of me to bring his majesty the very thing he hates. Show me where the common brambles are."

So Jaysse did. After coming down from the crag, he led her to the east side of the meadow, wherein he had found the bramble patch earlier this morning. Being careful not to scratch their arms, Jaysse and Petra uprooted the plant. The captain of the guard placed it in a burlap sack and thanked Jaysse for his time.

"Well done, Jaysse. I should learn to not underestimate your kind. Would you care to come to the city with me?"

"What for?" Jaysse pulled a thorn out of his wrist and pinched the skin to keep it from bleeding.

"Well, I could have died from that dreamshade, had you not warned me about it, and you helped me harvest this common bramble" she replied. "Your prudence and kindness ought to be rewarded."

Jaysse wrung his hands. Going into the city made him nervous, for he feared accidentally revealing his magic. But on the other hand, he did not want to disappoint Petra.

"All right. Let us go."


	2. Chapter 2

It was a few hours' walk from the meadow to the city. Petra and Jaysse trotted along a sandy road snaking through the countryside to the villages. A river ran along the road, so the sound of its rushing was a constant companion. Jaysse watched with intrigue as it rolled along its course, part of it occasionally diverted to farmland with canals.

The capital city of Murex stood on a hill overlooking vibrant woodlands. A stone wall with guard towers protected the settlement. Jaysse was nervous as they approached the gates, because stern soldiers stood guard there. A sign hung next to the gate warned entrants that magic was strictly forbidden in the kingdom and that anyone caught practicing it would be sentenced to death. Jaysse pulled the lavender out of his satchel and sniffed it to calm himself down. Getting nervous would only increase his chance of accidentally revealing his magic.

But they got the clear from the guards and entered the city without a problem. Petra had walked with a lazy gait on the road to the city, casually swinging the bag in her hand, but now she straightened her posture and marched with military poise. Jaysse wasn't sure whether he was supposed to maintain his normal stride or to imitate Petra's marching. He settled into an awkward walk that was a blend of both.

Being a mostly solitary person, Jaysse was intimidated by the bustle of the city. Peasants stuck their heads out of cottage windows and threw their kitchen waste onto the streets below. The smell of fresh-baked bread from corner bakeries was overwhelming, reminding Jaysse of how hungry he was. Children ran through the streets, laughing and whooping and almost knocking people off their feet. Jaysse shivered and stuck close to Petra, uncomfortable with the presence of so many people. He lifted his gaze up to the castle rising above the vassal's world.

"Ay, the crowds are terrible today. Come along. I know a shortcut to the castle grounds," Petra told Jaysse all of a sudden. "Follow me."

She took him off of the main roads and onto a path bypassing the crowds. It took them through a more peaceful, pastoral area. The larger, cleaner houses told Jaysse that this was a place for the upper classes of Murex.

"Politicians, military commanders, justices, clergy," Petra informed him, a slight smile on her face. "Nor are the barracks far from here."

"What are the barracks like?"

"Quite nicer than the rabble neighborhoods. They give us much in exchange for protection of the people. I have my own room and everything."

"Or is that just because you are in the royal guard, not a mere soldier?"

"Hmm-mm...I believe that is true, actually," Petra admitted with visible embarrassment. "The captain enjoys better accommodations."

"So I see." His tone was slightly disdainful. "Wait, _captain?_ "

She looked puzzled. "Did I neglect to tell you that?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well, that is my rank, yes. Captain of the guard. Very prestigious, and much responsibility. I take orders from the king himself."

Jaysse felt he should bow, so he did, bending forward at the waist. "Sir."

"Do not call me sir. I am a woman. I did not train long and hard for years to be referred to with a filthy male title."

"Ma'am," Jaysse corrected himself.

"I have had to work far harder than my peers, and it is all because I am a woman. The king does not believe that females are fit to be soldiers. Rot. That is a lot of rot. Women are as strong as men, and should not have to go to further lengths to prove the same skill. Hopefully my service as a captain can make the king see that-"

Her tirade on gender equality was interrupted by the sound of flute music. Jaysse was confused, but Petra recognized the sound...and its source.

She frowned. "A gypsy. Come on, I ought to ensure that the little hooligan is not making trouble. I was warned about their kind."

She and Jaysse rounded the bend, following the sound of the flute. It took them to a stack of wooden crates in front of an alleyway. A young man, shirtless and clad in colorful rags, sat on the crates and played an exotic melody on his flute. His feet were bare, his hair was blond, and his attitude was carefree.

Petra stopped in front of him. He took notice and ceased to play. He set his flute in his lap.

"Good day," he said, smiling. "Who are you?"

"I am Petra, captain of the Royal Guard." Petra looked him up and down. "I assume you to be a gypsy?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Where is the rest of your tribe?"

The gypsy shrugged. "Elsewhere in the city, ma'am."

"Have you stolen anything?"

"No, ma'am."

"Have you practiced magic, or possessed magical items?"

"No, ma'am." He was insufferably polite.

"Stop calling me 'ma'am.' You have done nothing illegal? You know that the king does not like your kind."

"I have only been playing my flute. I do not know why his majesty dislikes that. Does he not have his own court musicians?"

"Well, yes," Petra said tightly. "But he wants to maintain a stable kingdom. We cannot have magicians and mischievous gypsies running loose in Murex. What is your name, gypsy?"

"Lukas, ma'am." He started to play his flute again, but had to stop when Petra started talking to him again.

"You play quite skillfully," she observed. "For a nomad."

"What is that supposed to mean? And if you like my music, I would appreciate...well, you know." He kicked an upturned hat out from the shadows, which came to rest at Petra's feet. An assortment of coinage glittered in the bottom of the hat.

Petra glowered. "I am not supposed to enable the gyspies…"

Lukas went back to playing his beautiful, sweet music, but maintained a pleading look aimed at her.

She frowned. "I said I am not to enable…"

Jaysse dug a small handful of change, the tiny amount of Murex coinage he possessed, and tossed it in the hat. Lukas's expression brightened. He finished his song, then nodded gratefully at them.

"Thank you. Creator bless you. I hope the rest of your day is splendid."

"Sure, yes, whatever," Petra droned as she walked away. Jaysse had to follow, but he stole one glance over his shoulder. The gypsy boy had gone back to his music. He had only played a few measures when three more scruffy-looking people emerged from the shadows and approached them. Two boys and one girl, all of which were wearing dark rags and leather mantles. Jaysse ducked to the side to watch them.

"Lukas," hissed one of the boys, who had green eyes and brown hair. "Show us what you got today."

Lukas hesitantly stopped playing his flute and showed him the hat. "I know it is not much, Aiden, but-"

"This is it?" Aiden asked scornfully. "This is hardly enough to buy a new tunic! What have you been doing all morning?"

"I played my flute for the people. They enjoy my music."

Aiden rolled his eyes and glanced over at the girl. "Can you believe this, Maya?"

"Lukas is afraid of stealing," Maya sneered. "Why must you be so naive?"

"We should not have taken sanctuary in that church," Aiden said, crossing his arms. "He heard about how theft is a sin, and now he is too afraid to steal. How will we survive if _this_ (he jangled the coins in the hat) is all he can show for his efforts?"

"Gypsies!" the other boy shouted suddenly.

Aiden shot him a toxic look. "Shut up, Gill."

Jaysse was about to walk over and say something when-

"Hey!" Petra shouted from several paces away. "Jaysse, where are you? Why are you not coming with me?"

"Sorry! My apologies," Jaysse stammered as he ran to catch up with Petra. She was leading the way through the city.

"You enabled him," the captain of the guard complained as they marched on the cobbled streets.

"No," Jaysse countered, "I paid him for work well done. He said, very clearly, that he had not been doing anything illegal. What is so immoral about sitting on a stoop and playing lovely music?"

Petra mumbled something indistinct, then said, "Well, what he said matters not. He could have still stolen or cheated or something else illegal."

"But you did not catch him doing those things." Jaysse lifted his foot and rubbed the bottom. The cobblestone streets cut and bruised his bare feet. He wondered how much farther he had to walk.

He looked up again, and realized that he was on the threshold of the castle grounds. It loomed even larger now, a marvel of well-hewn stone and towers with cone-shaped roofs. Flags and banners fluttered in the wind. His lips parted in a smile, delighted by the sight.

However, a massive crowd packed onto the courtyards before the castle, preventing Petra and Jaysse from entering. The captain of the guard used her status to force her way through the masses.

"Out of the way! Out! Captain is approaching!" she shouted at the people, motioning at them. "Why are you all crowded here, anyway?"

When they pushed their way to the front of the crowd, they saw why.

At the foot of the castle, in the middle of the greens, a patch of land had been sectioned off with rope. A stone block sat in the center of the sectioned-off area. Jaysse had no idea what is purpose was. Perhaps he would soon know.

A balcony from the castle overlooked the front courtyard. The purple curtain fluttered, and three people emerged from behind it.

The first was a man with a sculpted physique, medium-brown skin, and a manly beard. A golden crown sat in his dark hair.

"King Gabriel," Petra said proudly, nudging Jaysse's shoulder.

Next came a regal woman with pale skin, curly brown hair, and an elaborate queenly dress. Her symbol of authority was a smaller, silver crown embedded with rubies.

"The queen?" Jaysse inquired.

Petra nodded. "Queen Ellegaard."

The third was a teenaged girl, just about Jaysse's age. She had dark skin, erratically curly black hair, a button nose, and a curious expression. She wore a ribbon-laden pink dress, and her hair was kept out of her face by a little pearl tiara.

Jaysse couldn't stop staring at her. "Is that…?"

"Princess Olivia, yes," Petra answered, stressing the word 'princess.' "The king and queen hope that they can ally to another kingdom by her marriage."

Jaysse frowned, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by King Gabriel approaching the edge of the balcony and speaking up. Every face in the crowd turned to him.

"Citizens of Murex," he began, "I would wish you good day, but alas I cannot. This is not a good day."

The people murmured, confused by what he meant.

"You know that I put so much of my effort into maintaining a safe and successful kingdom to benefit you all. It is my lifelong quest as your king. Because of my ambitions, I must place laws upon the land that are seen as strict by some. But they have to be this way, lest we fall into anarchy. I take no pleasure in removing criminals from our society, but it has to be done."

"What does he mean by that?" Jaysse whispered to Petra.

She wouldn't answer. "Shh."

King Gabriel continued his speech. "Those who do not follow the laws and rules of society endanger us all. Without a strong ruler to protect the kingdom, we would be invaded and conquered. And then the laws pressed upon you would be all the stricter. Therefore, I must punish wrongdoing before it takes root in our community. It is no different than gardening. You do not weep when weeds are pulled from the soil, for you know that it harms the crops. You, then, ought not to weep when criminals, the weeds of our people, are pulled away from society. It is necessary for a healthy, fruitful kingdom."

"He talks too much," Jaysse complained. "I just want to know why this crowd is here."

"Quiet!" Petra scolded. "Watch your speech while in public. I believe a criminal is about to be punished. That is usually when he makes his speech about the need for law and order."

The next part of the pontificate made Jaysse's heart skip. "Regrettably, some weeds are so vile that they must be dealt with by burning them up in the fire. That is the only way we can insure that their seeds do not spread. This form of crime is so dreadful, so damaging to the safety of a kingdom, that it can only be properly punished with death."

"D-death?" Jaysse stammered.

A harsh, rapid-fire drumbeat drowned out the murmurs of the crowd. Jaysse craned his neck to see. A team of four drummers led a procession to the stone slab in the courtyard. Behind them came a black-hooded executioner toting a huge axe. She let the axe drag on the grass behind her, cutting a long slash in the dirt. Next came the condemned, led by two soldiers in front and two soldiers in back. The drummers stood at the four corners of the executioner's block. The soldiers marched the condemned up to the block, allowing their prisoner to be seen by the crowd.

The prisoner was a gaunt man, tan-skinned and brown-haired, in gauzy clothes. His ankles jangled with dozens of metal bracelets. His hands were tied behind his back. He couldn't pry his gaze away from the axe resting against the block.

King Gabriel sounded nearly hysterical. "This man has been found guilty of practicing magic! He has endangered my kingdom and my family. We cannot allow this to continue, and so with great regret and a heavy heart, I must sentence him to death!"

The condemned man groaned for grief.

Jaysse felt his heart skip a beat. So it was really true. Magic _was_ punishable by death here. He glanced around, uncomfortable. He wanted to ask Petra to let him go home, but that might make her suspicious.

Queen Ellegaard patted her husband's shoulder and then spoke up. "Good people, if you cannot bear to watch this execution, we will allow you two minutes' grace period, that you may leave and go back to your lives. We would not want anyone to see a grisly thing if they did not wish so."

Jaysse tapped Petra's shoulder.

"What?" she asked.

"May I go home?" he requested. "This is making me uncomfortable."

She frowned. "We still have to present the find to the king. I want him to give you the proper recognition for your help."

Jaysse stammered, trying to think of another excuse. "But what if he dislikes me? What if he judges me by my appearance? I look like one of the gypsies he hates."

Petra appraised him again. Jaysse hoped she would agree, but instead she said, "No. You do not look like a gypsy. You look like a scruffy hermit, but not a gypsy."

Jaysse stifled a disappointed groan. He would be forced to watch this.

Queen Ellegaard waited a full two minutes. No-one departed from the gathering.

"Well, then, I suppose we ought to go forward with this," she said, then turned to Princess Olivia. "Olivia, sweetie, you may go back inside if…"

Olivia's focus was unwavering. "I have the will to watch this, Mother. Thank you."

"Gabriel?" Ellegaard turned her attention to him.

"Let the procedure commence," the king instructed the executioners.

The soldiers tied a blindfold on the condemned. They forced the man on his knees, then pressed his back down so that his neck rested on the block. The executioner approached and lifted her axe off the ground.

A few people in the crowd cried "mercy," but most chanted for blood.

"Justice is served," Petra said, satisfied.

Jaysse couldn't bear to watch the moment of the killing. He put his hands over his eyes. He only heard the axe hit the block and the gasps of the crowds. His stomach felt queasy.

He shuddered. "Petra, I want to go home."

The captain sighed. "Why?"

"I told you, this is making me uncomfortable."

"Oh, the first few made me uncomfortable when I was training," Petra said, "but eventually, you grow used to them. Remember, these are criminals. They deserve what they get. Practicing magic in Gabriel's kingdom! They ought to know better."

"Uh...Sure." Jaysse scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortable.

"Regrettable, but necessary," King Gabriel said again. "This is a necessary measure to protect the peace-"

"So! Murder is needed to preserve peace?" a loud, ragged voice boomed in the courtyard, interrupting Gabriel. A hundred pairs of eyes, Jaysse's included, glanced over to the source of the voice.

The king and queen drew back, edging toward the curtain, that they might retreat into the safety of the castle. Soldiers who were standing guard on the grounds tensed up, awaiting the king's order to remove the threat.

But no order was given. A thin, elderly man wearing a many-pocketed green robe hobbled into view. He had long, black, greasy hair and a beard. His posture was slightly stooped, but he walked with no cane.

"Oh, the things you do to cover up what you've done, Gabriel," the man said.

Everyone wondered who this man was. He had to be crazy to speak so disgracefully to a king. Gabriel identified the sullen stranger by yelling his name.

"Ivor!"

"I know what my name is, Gabriel."

Gabriel stiffened. "'Tis _King_ Gabriel to you."

Ivor chuckled hoarsely. "Actually, it is not. You are just Gabriel to me."

"Erm, father…?" Olivia asked, looking to the king for help. "What is going on?"

"You all think Gabriel is a strong and honest king?" Ivor yelled to the crowd.

The people responded with a halfhearted "yes." They were fairly sure that it wasn't the answer Ivor wanted.

"False! His kingdom is built on lies. Lies, hypocrisy, and now murder!" He pointed furiously at the aftermath of the execution.

"Murder? How dare you…Who do you think you are?" Petra shouted, going for her sword. "Stand down, or you are under arrest!"

Ivor just laughed. "Gabriel knows. Do you not, _King_ Gabriel?"

"Ivor, whatever you are planning, do not do it. Think of my people."

"The past has caught up to you, and now you must face up to your lies. I will be the one to present them."

"What the...What is he talking about?" Petra growled. "All this rot about lies and murder? Why is no-one arresting this irreverent loon?"

Ivor produced, from seemingly nowhere (perhaps some magic pocket?) a large glass orb. It was the size of a man's head, and it looked like a witch's crystal ball. Purple smoke swirled inside it.

The crowd "oohed" in awe at the sight of the bauble, but Gabriel drew back in shock, as did Ellegaard.

"I have, here in this orb, an enemy your supposedly brave and valiant king could not defeat. Nor do I expect him to be able to defeat it this time, either."

"Guards! Arrest him!" Gabriel commanded. "I will not allow this."

The soldiers sprung into action, rushing at Ivor. The old man was unfazed. He lifted the orb above his head and threw it to the ground. The glass shattered on the stone. The cloud of purple smoke seeped out and grew.

Jaysse watched the scene in horror. The people cried out fearfully as the smoke formed itself into the looming shape of a huge, dark dragon. It had four wings, two heads, obsidian-colored scales, long claws, and red eyes. Blue smoke puffed from its nostrils, and its throat glowed with heat. It hovered over the courtyard, its pumping wings blowing hard gusts of wind. Unearthly growls bubbled up from its throat.

"What _is_ that thing?" Petra yelled over the noise of the dragon.

Ivor overheard her. "This, dear heart, is the Deurodragon. The worst of the Ender Dragon and the worst of the Wither, bound up into one! Is that not right, Gabriel?"

Everyone was panicking, but no-one as much as the king. "Ivor, you fool! You do not realize what a mistake you have made!"

Ivor leveled a cold, hard glare at him. "You worked hard to build up your kingdom, but nothing built can last forever."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Just an FYI that I'm not really a Gabrigaard shipper. I figured Gabriel would make a better stereotypical fairytale king than Magnus. So, please do not whine about my choice to make Gabriel and Ellegaard married with a daughter in this story.**

The Deurodragon's roar shook the earth. Jaysse clamped his hands over his ears. The smoke pouring from the dragon's mouth and nose dimmed the sunlight, and the sky itself turned an unearthly green and purple. The wind, part of it empowered by the pumping of the dragon's four massive wings, ripped the leaves off of the nearby trees and tore the castle banners from their standards.

With a sweep of its tail, the dragon knocked away the row of soldiers coming at it with spears. They slammed into the castle wall and fell in an armored heap. People scattered in all directions, screaming. Even the otherwise emotionless executioner ran past Jaysse, her face blanched with fright. Jaysse stood frozen, wilting before the nightmarish dragon. It arched its neck and breathed out a cloud of rainbow-colored flame, wickedly brilliant against the deepening sky. The trees caught on fire.

"Good citizens! Please remain calm!" Gabriel yelled, trying to be heard over the dragon. "Fear not. I am a strong king. I can slay this monster!"

Petra drew her sword and poised to fight. She stared down the monster. One of its heads turned towards her, the other being focused on Gabriel. But despite having two challengers, the Deurodragon wasn't conflicted. It swiped at Petra with one arm and at Gabriel with the other. Gabriel gasped and ran inside the castle, holding his wife's and daughter's hands. The dragon's arm missed Petra narrowly, and she responded to the attack with fierce swipes of her sword.

Jaysse gasped when the dragon's attack nearly caught her head-on. "Petra! Stop. You are not strong enough to face this dragon!"

Petra had fallen on the ground, but she sprung back to her feet. "Do not give me orders, Jaysse. I swore on my sacred honor to defend my homeland against all threats, including this one. I will battle this beast. And if I fall while doing so, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

"No, Petra!"

The Deurodragon snarled, showing rows and rows of jagged teeth. Petra dodged from its rainbow-colored firebreath.

She slashed at its feet with her blade. "Have at you!"

Meanwhile, Gabriel had come running out of the castle and onto the courtyard. Whatever Ivor had said about Gabriel being a liar or a cheat aside, there was no denying that the king was courageous. He had thrown off his crown and cape; now he wore finely crafted armor and wielded a powerful sword. He leapt up and lunged his sword at the dragon, only for it to swat him to the ground with its foot. Gabriel landed on his back and then jumped back to his feet. Again he attacked, only to get repelled again.

His face was red with fury. "Ivor! How could you do this to us?"

The Deurodragon roared again. Jaysee covered his ears. He was inwardly panicking. He prayed that Gabriel or Petra or the both of them could stop this incoming disaster before it started. The monster could likely kill them all with a swipe of its tail.

"It matters not," Petra boasted, getting out a bow and loading on an arrow. "I will slay it before you need an answer to that question!"

She aimed for the dragon's heart, but the arrows bounced harmlessly off of its scales. She may as well have been throwing dandelions at the beast. The dragon only got angrier.

"Sir Petra, stand down!" Gabriel warned her. "This is not your fight. Ivor's quarrel is with me, not you."

"The world has to know the truth," Ivor shouted over the noise, "and if this is the only way to show the truth, so be it!"

"No!" Gabriel yelled.

The Deurodragon belched a great fireball out of its mouth. The fireball collided with a wall, smashing the stone and making the upper floor crumble and collapse in on itself. A fire flared up inside the rubble. Servants and soldiers fled the building, running and screaming.

"Petraaaa!" Jaysse wailed, terrified.

Petra kept shooting ineffective arrows. She glanced back at him, fearful.

Ivor watched Gabriel's fear with a smug smile. He might have said something about the monster being under his control, but Jaysse could hardly hear it over the din the Deurodragon was making. More fireballs crashed into the castle and courtyard, leaving flaming craters.

"Oh, all right," Ivor said eventually, shrugging. "Creature, retreat."

Nothing happened. The dragon continued to spit fire and lash out at Petra and Gabriel. Jaysse, caught in the crossfire, dodged spurts of flame and debris.

Ivor frowned and cleared his throat. "I said...Creature, retreat!"

The Deurodragon swung around one of its heads, regarded Ivor with an upturned, scaly lip, and then went back to attacking. It bashed its tail into one of the castle rooftops, shattering the windows. Glass shards rained down on the people below. They ducked for cover.

In the understatement of the century, Ivor said, "Well, that was not the intention...why does it refuse to obey me?"

"Whatever you are trying is not working!" Jaysse cried. In this moment, he could feel the magic inside him stirring. It pulsed in his feet, stretching as if it was trying to reach out to the earth underfoot. For that was his breed of magic—he could control, to an extent, soil and stone with the will of his mind. Earth magic.

"No, please," he whispered to the magic within him. "Not now."

The dragon roared again. Jaysse cringed. But this time, he felt a kick in his gut and a throb in his heart. He could almost sense a connection between the magic in the dragon and the magic in his own body.

...How?

So confusing, and not the right time to wonder!

"Ivor, you fool!" Gabriel shouted. "Stop this beast before it kills us all!"

"Uh...Uh...Do not be alarmed, people!" the old man announced. "See, I have an elixir that will pacify this foul monster…"

He pulled a large bottle from an unseen pocket of his robe. It was shiny and filled with a strange, oozing pink liquid. Hesitantly he held it up, aiming for the Deurodragon. The dragon twisted its two head around to look at it. That left its throat area, a notoriously sensitive area of a dragon, exposed for a target.

"See, I will stop this." Ivor flung the potion.

The Deurodragon realized what the old man was doing, recoiled, and swatted the bottle away.

"No!"

The bottle shattered on the ground meters away. The potion seeped uselessly into the ground. Ivor looked at the undamaged Deurodragon in horror.

" _Kyrie eleison_ ," he stammered in gratuitous Greek. Then he gulped, turned aside, and took off running.

"Ivor, you coward!" Gabriel snarled. "Get back here!"

The dragon roared and blasted a fireball at the castle balcony, destroying a sizeable portion of the front wall. It prompted an exodus of the last few people in the castle, particularly the queen and princess. Ellegaard and Olivia fled out of the destroyed castle, along with a few strangers.

"If we stay here any longer, we are going to die," Gabriel gasped. "We have to go to someplace fortified. A military outpost, perhaps."

"The way to the barracks is blocked," Petra said, pointing behind her. The wall-blasting attacks of the Deurodragon had spilled rubble over their only exit. Since the castle layout was U-shaped, the people were trapped on all sides.

"Isn't there any other way out?" Jaysse asked.

"There are outposts beyond the city limits," Petra said, "but the only way to reach those would be to…"

"Run through the rubble," Gabriel finished her thought, motioning to the collapsed front section of the castle. It was the only part not on fire at the moment, and thus the only way through which to escape.

Olivia mumbled, "That seems dangerous."

"Staying here is even more dangerous," Jaysse pointed out.

Gabriel shrugged. "The boy is right. This is our only escape, our only hope."

Petra's eyes narrowed in determination. "Then run through it we shall. Onwards."

They took off running just as the Deurodragon breathed out a cloud of brilliant, terrible rainbow flame. Jaysse could feel the heat radiating on his back as he and the others fled. They stumbled over the rubble and crawled into the ruins of the palace. In another time, this may have been a lovely building, but at this moment, it was a disaster zone. The pillars holding up the roofs had collapsed, and the walls were smashed. Jaysse just hoped there was no-one crushed under them. Outside, the Deurodragon continued to roar. Jaysse wondered if it was moving away or following them.

They ran through the rubble until they reached the courtyards and gardens on the other side of the building. Gabriel did not bother with the locks on the doors; he flat-out kicked them down in his hurry. It was an impressive stunt, but everyone was too frightened to notice. They spilled out of the castle and stumbled onto the greens, then kept running. They didn't get very far before a massive shadow draped over them. It was the shadow of the Deurodragon, visible even under the dark sky. It was following them.

The dragon roared and blasted more fireballs. The charges smashed into trees and hedges, setting them on fire. The acrid smell of burning leaves and grass filled the air.

"We must keep running!" Gabriel screamed over the noise. "Do not stop for anything!"

As they ran, the castle grounds became a forest glade. Settled land became the wilderness, and the outposts were approaching. Jaysse's lungs burned and legs protested, but he knew he couldn't stop. Onward they pushed. Behind him, Princess Olivia was yammering doom and gloom about how they weren't going to be able to outrun the Deurodragon. She tripped and stumbled from her full-length skirt, until she girded it up till it was knee-length instead. She had also kicked off her impractical shoes and now ran barefoot.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch. Pebbles," she complained as they ran.

If this had been a less dire situation, Jaysse would have chuckled at her. He had to run barefoot all the time. Didn't feel so nice, now did it, princess?

Just when Jaysse was sure he was going to collapse from the exhaustion, the outpost came into sight. It was a small stone tower, with slit-windows for firing arrows and battlements on the roof. One covered wagon was parked outside the building.

"I think someone else came here first," Jaysee observed.

"Hey, that looks like a gypsy wagon...Wait a minute." Petra squinted. "What are they doing here?"

"Perhaps they fled when they heard about the execution of that supposed sorcerer," Jaysse suggested, trying not to sound too blunt. "I think they were afraid that they would be seen as guilty by association."

Petra shrugged. "I would not have done that. As long as we cannot catch them doing something immoral, we have no standing to arrest them."

"Quickly, we must go inside," Gabriel said. "Regardless of whether it is already occupied or not. This is a strong tower. Therein we will be safe."

He forced the heavy doors open and herded everyone inside. Jaysse could finally take a tally of who was all present. Petra, Gabriel, Olivia, himself, and two strangers. One was a heavyset young man (about Jaysse's age, give or take a year perhaps) wearing green; he was the only servant that managed to escape with Jaysse's group. The other was a little boy, no older than ten, who had ragged clothes and pink hair.

"Does this mean I can have a break from my servant's duties?" the big-bodied boy asked Olivia, his tone hopeful.

She gave him a cutting look. "Your priorities are misplaced, Axel."

Axel glanced down at his feet in embarrassment. "I just wanted to know."

The little boy was crying because he was so afraid. Olivia had turned him off by snubbing Axel and Petra looked too standoffish, so he chose Jaysse as the next best option. He ran at Jaysse with his arms outstretched for a hug. Jaysse was caught off-guard but didn't have the heart to turn away a young child, so he accepted the hug and let the little boy cry into his shoulder.

"It's all right," he promised, even though he wasn't sure that was true. "Are you lost?"

The kid nodded, with his face still buried in Jaysse's shoulder.

"Where is your mother and father?"

The boy hugged Jaysse harder and shook his head.

"Uh-oh. Do you not have parents? Are you an orphan?"

The boy nodded again, and started crying harder.

"What is your name?"

The child muttered, "Reuben."

"Reuben. All right. You will be fine, Reuben. I can protect you."

"I can protect him, too!" Petra boasted, putting on a cocky smile despite the fear of the moment. "I am the Captain of the Guard! Strong as they come!"

Jaysse chuckled. "I suppose Petra can protect you, too."

Reuben held on to Jaysse's hand.

"Now what are we to do?" Petra asked, breaking the quiet. "There has to be a way to stop the Deurodragon. What could it be?"

No-one could give an answer.

There was a spiral staircase made of stone in the center of the tower, winding to the upper levels. Jaysse hadn't paid it much mind until he heard someone's footsteps descending the stairs. Judging by the slapping sound they made, it was a barefoot person.

He suspected it was one of the gypsies whose wagon was parked outside, and so it was. The blond-haired gypsy from before, the one who had played the flute, had come down the stairs when he heard the doors slam. He struck a defensive pose and held out a dagger. He had been expecting hostile company.

"Hey…" Petra trailed off, not remembering his name. "'Tis you. The one with the flute."

"Lukas," he responded. "What are you doing here? Have you come to arrest us? We haven't done anything wrong. Leave us alone."

"Calm yourself," Petra said, holding out upturned hands. "We are not here to arrest you. We are seeking shelter."

Lukas lowered the dagger, but still looked flighty. "As are we. My friends fled when we heard that an accused sorcerer was to be executed. We were afraid that we would be seen as guilty by association."

Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed.

Jaysse tried not to cut a telling glance at Petra. _I told you so._

"We had to flee due to an emergency," Gabriel said breathlessly. "An old foe of mine released a Deurodragon on our world. It is the worst of the Enderdragon and the worst of the Wither in one. 'Tis a terrible monster of great destructive power."

Lukas just looked confused. "Really?"

"Do you doubt me?"

"Yes," was his blunt answer. "I find that hard to believe."

"I fear he will believe it soon enough," the king muttered. "The dragon must still be following us."

"And he too is playing these games?" Lukas crossed his arms over his chest.

"How dare you speak so audaciously to the king," Petra growled at Lukas. "What will it take for your kind to learn respect?"

Gabriel raised his hand at her. "Peace, Sir Petra. We have no time for formalities. This is a dire hour. We must decide what we are to do."

The Deruodragon's roar rumbled outside. Several of the hiders gasped. Reuben cried out in fear and huddled closer to Jaysse.

"And we must decide quickly," Petra said, rising to her feet. "I will be doing that deciding. There are catacombs beneath these outposts. They allow soldiers to quickly go from tower to tower without allowing our enemies to detect us. We will use those tunnels to escape the Deurodragon."

"Brilliant, Sir Petra!" Gabriel applauded.

The celebration was brief, however, because with a great crash, part of a wall exploded. The Deurodragon had bashed through it with its paw. Its claws scraped on the stone, looking for a victim.

Lukas shrieked. "Mercy! It _is_ real!"

He stood frozen in fear, unable to understand what was happening.

"Hurry!" Petra shouted. She herded the others away from the attacking dragon and toward a wood door under the staircase. It was locked, but she broke the hinges and then ripped it away, allowing passage. A stone staircase led down into a dark chamber below the tower.

"You have greater things to fear than the dark unknown," Petra scolded when the people at the front of the line balked at going down into the cellar. "Go! Waste time and die!"

Axel, Olivia, and Reuben gulped and hurried down the stairs. However, a scream distracted Petra from joining them.

The dragon grabbed Gabriel in its talon. Jaysse gasped, then ran over with Petra to rescue him. Jaysse took hold of the king's arms to help him. Petra lanced her sword into the dragon's toes. The dragon screeched in pain, then released its grip on Gabriel.

"Thank you. My gratitude," the king stammered. "Oh, my people, my people. I should be out there, protecting them. How many has this abomination slain already?"

"We cannot afford to think about that right now," Jaysse said. "We are in dire danger."

"This is a battle that can-not be fought alone," Gabriel gasped. "Seek sanctuary in another kingdom, as this one is imperiled. Ally yourselves to its rulers. Let this guide you."

He took out a gilded medallion and gave it to Jaysse. It resembled a wheel with four spokes-one blue, one green, one red, and one white.

"The blue represents me and the red my wife Ellegaard. Green is King Magnus of Fragor, and white is Soren. Look for Magnus and see if he will give you his aid.

Take this with you and guard this. Let it not fall into the hands of evil."

Jaysse nodded and tucked the medallion into his pocket.

"Stand down!" Petra yelled. The Deurodragon smashed its paw through another wall and clawed at the stone. Petra slashed at its foot, but this time the dragon was relentless. It scraped and scratched even as its paw was bleeding, trying to find its victims. Terrified by the sight, Lukas shrieked again. He was too afraid to even run to the dubious safety of the catacombs.

"Jaysse. Lukas," Petra said. "You two have to flee. Go into the catacombs as I said. I will hold this off for now and rejoin you later."

Jaysse bit his lip. Could he really afford to not have Petra nearby as his protector? Lukas obeyed Petra, heading for the catacombs, but Jaysse was reluctant to leave.

"That was an order, not a suggestion, Jaysse! I said _go_!"

Before Jaysse could go, however, the Deurodragon forced both of its paws into the tower through the holes it had pierced in the walls. It grabbed Gabriel in one hand and Petra in the other. Jaysse gasped, horrified. Lukas, who had almost gone down into the catacombs, froze up in fear again. Jaysse panicked. They couldn't afford to lose their strongest fighters to the Deurodragon. In desperation, he reached out to Lukas.

"Lukas!" he pleaded. "Help me save one of them!"

Lukas yelped in fright and backed up.

"No, no, no!" Jaysse gritted his teeth. It was up to him, then. On a whim, he chose Petra. Secretly, he liked Petra. She seemed more capable, and she didn't fear magic to the point where she would call for execution as soon as she found out who he really was. He leapt up and took hold of her hand, managing to wrest her from the dragon's grip. Petra stabbed the dragon in the toes, forcing it to release her. They fell to the ground. They could only watch helplessly as the dragon kept Gabriel in its clutches.

"Sir Petra," the king gasped, "just go! Do not fear for me."

"No!" Petra cried. "Jaysse, you have to help me save him."

Jaysse ran towards the dragon's paw, but before he even came close to Gabriel, the dragon thrust its tail through the hole in the wall and whipped Jaysse with it. The force flung him backwards. He collided with Lukas and they both tumbled down the stairs into the catacombs. Jaysse scrambled back to the door, but just then the damaged tower collapsed. Rubble spilled onto the floor and blocked his way. There was no going back.


	4. Chapter 4

"No!" Jaysse screamed. He ran forwards and bashed his hands against the rocks, which of course didn't budge. He couldn't use his earth magic to move them out of the way, not with the others nearby to see it, and they looked too big for him to move, anyway. He pressed up against the rocks and groaned. He had failed to save his friend.

The catacombs were round tunnels carved out of the stone, snaking into many different directions. The tunnels were completely dark, except for one lone torch burning low on the wall.

"How will we know where to go?" Olivia questioned in the dark. "We can't see a thing."

Jaysse's reply was non sequitur. "Tear the hem off your skirt."

Olivia scoffed, very offended. "Excuse me? How about you tear the hem off that dingy tunic, hermit?"

Olivia couldn't see it, but Jaysse rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it, then. I guess mine would be better for this."

There was a ripping noise in the dark as Jaysse tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of his tunic. He took the torch off the wall and wound the oily cloth around it. That provided extra fuel for the torch. The flame bloomed, widening the sphere of light it gave off. It illuminated the frightened faces of the other four people in the catacomb.

"What happened? Where is Sir Petra?" Axel demanded.

Jaysse looked away uncomfortably.

Axel's eyes narrowed. "Where-is-Petra? And where is King Gabriel?"

"They, uh…"

"Spit it out!"

"They didn't make it into the tunnels with us," Jaysse confessed.

Axel looked aghast. "Why did you not help them?"

"I tried. The Deurodragon grabbed them both and I could only save one of them. I tried to rescue Petra, but then the dragon swatted me with its tail and Lukas and I fell into the tunnels."

Axel turned coldly on Lukas. "You did not help them. You stood by while they were in danger."

"I-I...I did not…" the gypsy boy stammered.

"Exactly! You did nothing. Now the king and his best soldier are dead, and the fault is yours." He loomed over Lukas, pure hate in his glare.

"I am so sorry…" Lukas tried to apologize, but Axel interrupted him.

"Your apology means nothing."

The servant boy stepped up to Lukas and then slapped him across the face- _hard_. The force was enough to send Lukas tumbling to the ground again. Upset by the violence, Reuben started crying again.

"Axel!" Olivia exclaimed. "Why did you do that?"

"He put his own life before Petra's and Gabriel's. Heaven knows why. His life certainly isn't worth more than theirs. 'Tis not very valuable at all."

Lukas sniffled and wiped his hand across his face.

"Axel, that is enough," the princess snapped. "Stop berating him. It was an accident."

"Awful costly accident." Axel crossed his arms. "You are lucky the princess is standing up for you, gypsy. Otherwise, you might not leave this tunnel alive."

"Don't make me relieve you of service, Axel," Olivia threatened. "After all, I am your superior. I can put you in the same situation as him."

That cooled Axel down fairly quickly.

"Look," Jaysse said, "we cannot stay here. This is much too dangerous. We need to hurry through these tunnels and find a safer place to hide. Like it or not, we are stuck together for the time being, so we might as well work together. We are in enough danger of being killed already with the Deurodragon on the loose; we don't need to be put in danger of being killed by each other."

"He has a point," Olivia said. "Uh, what is your name?"

"Jaysse," he supplied. "I mean no disrespect against you, Princess, but we have to be reasonable."

"But what about King Gabriel and Sir Petra?" Axel asked.

"I fear for them, but we will not save them if we stand here and talk," Olivia replied. "Come on. Lead the way, Jaysse."

"Oh. All right. Um…" Hesitantly Jaysse moved to the front of the group. How did he suddenly become the leader? He sighed and picked up Reuben, carrying him piggyback. Axel held the torch. The orange glow crept across the moldy old stones lining the tunnel. Strange noises echoed from the depths of the catacombs.

"Would it be such a bother to build _nice_ tunnels?" Olivia whined. "Why must catacombs always be dark and dirty?"

Now that Olivia had threatened to relieve him of his duties, Axel was bending over backwards to please her. "My apologies, my lady. Would you like me to carry you so that you won't have to walk?"

Olivia looked disgusted. "No. I do not need that."

"Rather cold in this tunnel," Lukas commented randomly, clutching his upper arms.

"Only for a shirtless hooligan like you," Axel retorted. "Would it kill you gypsies to wear clothes like proper men?"

"Excuse me? There is a great difference between being shirtless and being naked outright. My people come from a warm climate and-"

"Shut up! This is your fault, anyway."

"Axel, be quiet," Jaysse said, waving a hand at him.

"What? I'm putting the gypsy scum back in his place."

"Axel, I said _be quiet_. I hear something."

"What do you hear?"

"I won't know until you stop talking." Jaysse took a few steps forward and strained to hear. The others tensed up. Axel stood close to Olivia in order to protect her.

"It sounds like footsteps," he observed.

"Footsteps!" Jaysse whispered to the others. "They come from the part of the tunnel ahead of us."

"Maybe Petra found her way to us? She found another way into the tunnels?" the servant boy asked hopefully.

The sound of the footsteps grew, as did everyone's anticipation. Jaysse slowly waved the torch, trying to see Petra approaching. A figure cloaked in shade drew close, their steps calculated.

"I do not trust them," Lukas whispered to Olivia, drawing his dagger. "That does not seem like Petra."

"Silence," Axel reprimanded him. "Petra?"

The figure stepped into the torchlight. It was an old man with greasy hair and a green robe. Ivor had hobbled into their midst. Everyone let out a groan of frustration.

"You! This is your fault. How could you do this terrible thing?" Jaysse ranted.

"You ruined my plans with your meddling," Ivor retorted.

"None of us did anything of the sort." Jaysse stood his ground. "You cannot lay the blame on us."

"Now you fools are forcing me to concoct a new plan. A solution to clean up this mess."

"Where is Sir Petra?" Axel jumped into their conversation.

Ivor looked at him scornfully. "How am I to know the girl's whereabouts? Did she not go down into these tunnels with you?"

"No," Axel snapped. "Thanks to this blond idiot, she was taken by the-by _your_ Deurodragon. She stood against it."

"How brave of her. Well, it was either brave or stupid of her, actually, and I suspect it to be the latter case. Perhaps women really aren't cut out to be in his majesty's army, if they lack sense in critical-"

"Shut up!" Axel roared. "You cannot speak of her like that. Take it back!"

"Oh, words can never be taken back."

Axel made a dismissive waving motion at Ivor. "Bother this stodgy crone. We need to go back and save her. If she is alive, we must have her back."

"Have her back?" Ivor scoffed. "Impossible. There is no way a young girl can go up against the Deurodragon and survive. You must face the truth that your friend is dead. You had best arrange funeral plans for her once this business has blown over."

Jaysse's fists clenched up. "What good are your words, anyway? We ought not to waste time listening to him. We need to go."

An animal noise echoed in the tunnel. The torchlight flickered. Jaysse gulped.

"I would wish you luck, but luck won't carry you through the dark catacombs. Instead, I shall give you sympathy. Farewell." Ivor unclipped a small flask from his belt. He took a swig from it, and instantly he disappeared. It was an invisibility potion. Fading footsteps told them he had run away.

Olivia gasped. "He...he used magic!"

"I'm sorry, my lady," Axel stammered. "Don't worry, I shall protect you from foul magic users. My muscle is mightier than their witchcraft."

"Excellent," Olivia replied. "Oh, how I fear magic. Users of magic only seek to hurt and wreak havoc with it. When I become queen, I will see to it that every magic user comes to a painful and well-deserved end."

Jaysse shuddered involuntarily. The torchlight flickered again.

"Hold the torch steady," Olivia scolded him. "If you drop it, we will have to walk in the dark."

"S-sorry, ma'am," he managed. "Come. We should go."

The animal growl sounded closer this time. The group wasted not a second more. They took off running down the tunnel, frantically checking over their shoulder. Growls and cries echoed through the catacombs. It was hard to tell what sound was coming from where.

"What are those horrid noises?" Olivia asked. "It sounds like some dreadful animal."

"I know what they are," Lukas said, surprising everyone that he did. "They live in the swamps near my homeland. Dangerous animals."

"But what _is_ it?" Olivia insisted.

A large, scaly creature with armored skin and a wedge-shaped head sprung out of the shadows near a fork in the tunnel. It lashed its muscled tail about and snapped its huge, toothy jaws.

"It's an alligator!"

Agitated by the presence of noisy people, they alligator gnashed its teeth at them. They screamed and made a break for an escape. Axel swept Olivia up into his arms and Jaysse grabbed Reuben, both out of protective instinct. The group ran for life down the other leg of the fork in the tunnel, looking in panic to see if the alligator was following. It lumbered after them, still angry.

"Help!" Olivia cried. "Oh, that's terrifying!"

Jaysse was too busy looking behind him, watching for the alligator, that he wasn't looking at what lay ahead. He slammed into a metal grate at the end of the tunnel.

"Oh, no. Oh...no. Please, no," he stammered as he bashed his fists against the grate, which didn't budge. "Open! Open!"

"Jaysse?" Olivia squeaked. "The alligator-"

"There it is!" Lukas cried, pointing down the length of the tunnel. Determined to get at them, it pulled itself along, snapping its jaws like a massive pair of shears. Jaysse and the others were trapped.

"Does anyone have a weapon?" Jaysse asked, panicking.

"Lukas has a dagger. I saw it," Axel said.

"That is not going to ward off an alligator!" Lukas shot back.

Reuben wailed and shielded his eyes. The alligator slunk closer, slowing down now that it didn't have to chase down the youngsters anymore. It drew so close that they could smell the algae and rot on its breath. Lukas and Olivia whimpered, and Reuben sobbed. Jaysse squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see what would come next.

Just when he was sure they were going to be torn to pieces, a mighty rush of water blasted through the catacomb. The alligator looked back, saw the water shooting through the tunnel at it, and scrambled to get out of the way. Jaysse and the others were hit full-on with the water. The grate gave way, and suddenly all five of them were tumbling through thin air. Screams pounded through Jaysse's brain; he couldn't even tell that one of those screams was coming from him.

He landed back first in some body of water. He heard four heavy splashes shortly thereafter. Kicking and struggling, he forced his head above water and gasped for air. He treaded water and glanced around. Olivia, Axel, Lukas, and himself were bobbing in a tank of water. A few meters above, the end of the tunnel jutted out from a wall, dripping water. It was a pipe. The alligator looked down at them in disappointment. They were in a large space carved out of stone. All around were pipes, troughs, and water tanks.

"This is not just a catacomb," Jaysse said. "It is also a sewer! Interesting."

"When was this built?" Axel inquired. "My lady, were you told about the sewers in your lessons?"

Olivia shook her head.

"Hold it," Lukas said suddenly, ignoring how Axel gave him an eye-roll for daring to speak up. "Has...has anyone seen the little boy Jaysse was carrying? What was his name?"

Jaysse glanced around, saw that Reuben had gone missing, and cried out in fear. "Reuben! Where did Reuben go?"

Jaysse clawed through the murky water in a panic, trying to figure out where the young child had gone. To his horror, he saw Reuben below the water, sinking to the bottom of the tank. The child couldn't swim.

"Reuben!" Jaysse yelled. "He's going to drown!"

"Not if I can help." Lukas breathed in a deep gasp of air, then plunged below the water. He swam down to Reuben, pumping his legs and paddling with his arms. He grabbed the collar of Reuben's shirt and carried the child up to the surface with him, pushing the child's head above water before he went up for air himself. Reuben shuddered and started coughing water out of his mouth. Lukas slung the little boy over his shoulder and patted him on the back.

"My word!" Jaysse breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lukas. I underestimated you. I'd say we all underestimated you."

Jaysse glared very pointedly at Axel. Axel pretended not to see him.

"What are we to do now?" Lukas asked.

"We need to leave here before we encounter any more alligators, that's what we are to do," Olivia replied. "Axel, I request that you carry me again. My swimming abilities are not good."

Axel picked her up and slung her over his shoulder before she even finished her sentence. Jaysse found a floodgate in the tank and opened it. It led to a shallow trough running through the sewer. He held Reuben's hand and led the group in single file through the waist-deep water.

"The water is not that deep, my lady," Axel observed as they trudged along. "Are you sure that you want to be carried?"

"Of course I want to be carried. Who knows what dreadful stuff is mixed in that sewage water?"

Olivia probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Everyone cried out in disgust and started sloshing the water around. Jaysse tightened his grip on Reuben's hand so the child wouldn't run away. Jaysse picked up the pace as he led the group so they could get out of the sewer as soon as possible.

"Stay alert for more alligators," he warned the others. "I doubt that was the only one lurking in this sewer. Would that I still had my torch. I dropped it when we landed in the water tank."

They stumbled in the dark for a long time. The trough turned into another tunnel, at the end of which shone a glorious wash of daylight. It opened to the surface world! Only a grate made a barrier between the ragtag group and escape from the catacombs and sewers. Luckily, it was rusty. Jaysse unscrewed the bolts holding it on, and then Axel ripped it out of its moorings. They emerged from the sewer and stepped into the daylight, wiping sludge and dirt off their clothes. They were in a hilly meadow by a forest. How far they were from civilization was unclear.

"Why is it that nice clothes are always the clothes that end up ruined?" Olivia fretted, looking at the sorry state of her state-events dress. "And my feet hurt from walking barefoot."

Jaysse and Lukas rolled their eyes at the same time, both of them knowing full well the discomfort of being perpetually barefoot.

"With all due respect, my lady, will you please stop complaining?" Lukas requested. "I know that walking barefoot is painful. I must do so every day." He lifted one foot off the ground and rubbed it.

"Why must you do that?" Olivia adjusted her pigtails. "Why not wear shoes?"

"I do not have the means for that." His tone was as level as cannon fire. "I'm too poor to own shoes."

Olivia bit her lip.

"Sometimes my tribe struggles to find enough means to feed ourselves, much less afford something to put on our feet," Lukas continued. "I have slept on stable floors or the ground more times than I have slept in a bed. Many times, we have had to resort to stealing to provide for ourselves."

"What point are you trying to make?" Axel crossed his arms.

"Suffering is all around in the world. Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the well-off to care for the poor?"

Axel growled. "Watch yourself, gypsy."

Olivia frowned, feeling convicted by what Lukas said. Reviewing her recent behavior, she felt like a total brat. She struck her palms together and sighed. She saw the sun hanging low in the western sky.

"Night is falling," she observed. "We should, uh, stop and rest for the night."

"We can set up camp on the edge of the forest," Jaysse suggested. "Lukas, will you help me with that? You know how to set up a camp for the night."

Lukas agreed to it and they set to work pitching the camp. Jaysse arranged a fire ring and lit a campfire. Lukas threw together lean-tos from sticks and leafy branches.

"Not the most sturdy shelters ever, but they will keep us for the night," he said.

Once the camp was prepared, they huddled around the campfire to keep warm. Jaysse, Lukas, and Olivia rubbed their sore feet. Axel held Reuben under his arm like a hen taking a chick under her wing.

"This is a disaster," Olivia said, breaking the silence. "That dragon is going to destroy the world."

"It's Ivor's fault," Axel growled. "That wicked old crone! Why would he do something so nasty?"

"Revenge?" Jaysse wondered aloud. "He...I didn't pay too much attention to what he said before he released the dragon, but I remember him saying something about Gabriel being a liar and a cheater."

"What would he possibly cheat or lie about?" Olivia squinted. "My father is the most just, honorable man imaginable."

Jaysse wanted to say something about the magic law, but didn't. The last thing he needed was for her to be suspicious of him.

Instead he said, "It is a wonder."

"Just like his monster. How will that terrible thing be destroyed? It has to be destroyed before it destroys everything else. I just wonder how we will do that."

"We need a knight in shining armor or something," Axel piped up.

"It will take more than that," Jaysse said. "This beast is magical. A mere sword and shield won't defeat it."

"How would you know that it is magical?" Olivia glared at him.

"It's, um, well...it's definitely not an ordinary animal." Jaysse quickly changed the subject. "King Gabriel gave me this medallion as a guideline for getting help."

Jaysse took out the medallion and showed it to everyone.

"My word! He gave that to you?"

"Yes. Before the dragon capture him."

"What was his instruction?"

"He told me to seek Magnus of Fragor." Jaysse pointed at the green spoke on the wheel.

"Look for Magnus of Fragor?" Olivia ruffled her skirt in agitation. "No. We will do nothing of the sort. What we need to do is go back to Murex immediately. My father was captured by that beast, and I have lost track of my mother."

"Your father told me to seek Magnus. I should honor his instruction."

"So you do not care what happens to the queen?"

"No! That's not the case. I thought that I should do as I was advised…"

"My lady?" Axel asked. "If it does not offend you...I think what Jaysse says is right."

" _Et tu_ , Axel?" Olivia snapped back.

"I..I want to help Jaysse look for Magnus. I admire him."

"You admire the hermit?"

"I admire Magnus."

"Of course you admire him. He's a roguish fellow just as you are. Consider yourself relieved of duty, Axel."

Axel looked crushed. "My lady, I am so sorry, but…"

"Give me no excuses."

"Regardless of whether Axel comes or not, I go," Jaysse said. "This is important. So important I can hardly understand it myself."

Axel twiddled his thumbs, then said, "I am so sorry, my lady, but I agree with him. I will go with him to Fragor."

Olivia sighed. "Then go. Go on. Go look for Magnus with the hermit. I, on the other hand, am going to look for my mother."

"Are you sure?" Jaysse rose from his seat. "You're going to look for Queen Ellegaard _alone_? Going back to Murex? But that's so dangerous."

"I must do this, Jaysse. Don't try to talk me out of it."

"Olivia, the Deurodragon leveled Murex. It's not safe to go back there."

"I said not to try talking me out of this."

"We lost track of the Deurodragon. What if it's still prowling around Murex? It could kill you in an instant."

Olivia paused, looking conflicted.

"Axel and I are going to Fragor." Jaysse rubbed his hands together. "I trust that you will make a good decision on what you do, Olivia."

A roar echoed distantly. The group faced the direction from which the sound had come. In the west sky, a massive and evil shape was silhouetted by the sun. It had four wings and two heads. It was the Deurodragon. The monster was on the prowl, seeking to kill and destroy. Jaysse's heart felt faint inside him.

Lukas paled. "Please hurry."


	5. Chapter 5

Day was starting to ebb away as the sun sank below the horizon. Only a precious few hours of sunlight remained. Jaysse and Axel would have to leave for Fragor as soon as they could. Olivia wanted to go back to Murex to look for Queen Ellegaard, but wasn't exactly sure what to do, and Lukas was unceremoniously given the responsibility to look after the camp while they were gone. He wasn't keen with the idea.

"I question the necessity of that," the gypsy boy said, crossing his arms. "We have nothing valuable that bandits would want to steal."

" _I'm_ valuable!" Olivia shot back at him. " _I'm_ the continuation of my family's dynasty! Do you have any idea how much ransom a bandit would charge for my return?"

"I apologize for offending you," Lukas grumbled, clearly holding back a witty retort. "Now, please. If you wanted to go back to Murex to search for your mother, no-one is standing in your way."

"But do you think you can guard the camp by yourself? All you have is that knife."

Lukas twirled the dagger. "This is a dagger, not a knife. There's a distinction. And in any case, I can protect us. We gypsies are often harassed by bandits on the road. We know a few tricks for outsmarting them."

Jaysse shrugged. "I suppose we are set to go, then."

"It is all well and good that my father, for whatever reason, decided to entrust you with going to Fragor and talking to King Magnus," Olivia replied, "but how do you expect to accomplish that? Do you even know where we are?"

Jaysse halted, realizing it. "Oh, dear."

"And this is where our adventure stops, eh? Because you couldn't be bothered to learn geography?" Olivia turned to Axel. "This is why I am making school attendance mandatory when I become queen."

Jaysse looked down at the medallion in his hand, sighed, and turned away from Olivia. When he did, however, he noticed something. Though he had turned his body, the insignia on the medallion had not turned with him. It remained fixed, like a compass dial. The green spoke on the wheel continued to point south even though Jaysse had turned towards the north.

"Hey!" he blurted. "The medallion...it's a compass!"

"Really? How?" Axel crowded in to see it.

"Look. No matter where I turn, the green spoke continues to point south. Fragor must be south of here!"

"I'll be!" Olivia exclaimed. "Why did Father never tell me about these sorts of things? Always keeping secrets from me. It's dreadful."

Jaysse didn't listen. Instead, he started heading south. He motioned over his shoulder for Axel to follow. The servant boy shrugged and fell in step with Jaysse. He looked back over his shoulder once to see Olivia waving at him (whether she was waving good-bye or just scolding him was unclear) and then turned his attention to the road ahead.

"I hope we won't be walking for long," Axel said to Jaysse as they wandered through the fields.

Jaysse looked up from the compass for a second. "This doesn't tell me how far we are from Fragor. It only tells me that it is south of here."

Axel groaned.

They didn't say much throughout the rest of the walk through the meadows. There wasn't much to talk about, because the two boys had only just met that day. The air cooled as the sun sank. The long, swaying reeds of grass sounded like curious whispers. A smell of hay and flowers lingered in the air. Axel and Jaysse just shuffled along, heads down. Jaysse was watching the compass to make sure they were on track, and Axel was just bored.

He decided to try making conversation to fill in the silence (he hated silence.) "So, do you like Magnus? I think he's great."

Jaysse shrugged. "I don't know him."

"You should. Do you know the story of how he got his nickname 'the rogue king?'" Axel didn't pause for Jaysse's answer. "Well, when he first took the throne, he made an alliance with a nation far east of here. When his merchants came back from trading in the eastern empire, they brought back stuff like jade, silk, bears that eat reeds instead of meat, and...get this...a gray powder that, when you set fire to it, it explodes! Kapow!"

"Uh-huh," Jaysse mumbled, only half-listening.

"Anyway, Magnus figure out how to weaponize the black powder. He made explosives called 'TNT' and used them to repel his enemies. It was super effective, too. No-one has ever attacked Fragor since then."

"Interesting," said Jaysse, actually meaning it this time. "Have you ever been to Fragor before, that you would know this?"

"No, but I've heard about it from other people. That's why I want to go so badly."

"So you have this crushing desire to go to a kingdom ruled by a man called the 'rogue king?' He sounds rather dangerous."

"That's probably why King Gabriel wanted you to go seek him out. He has the destructive power that could destroy the dragon. His TNT could kill it."

"The Deurodragon."

An uneasy feeling fell over them. It was as if the mere name of the beast was enough to dampen their mood.

"That thing is going to destroy the world, and suddenly it is our responsibility to see that it doesn't." Jaysse stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I wonder how that came to be."

"Why is it that the young and dumb always have to go on these missions? Why are adults never summoned to be heroes?"

Axel shrugged. "Who said we had to be the heroes? Maybe all we need to do is follow this order and nothing after that."

"I hope that is the case," said Jaysse, stumbling over rocks and mud puddles in the dark. "I am not a hero."

Night had long since fallen, and by this point, it was so dark that Jaysse would not have been able to see his own hand held in front of his face. He tripped on a rock, falling to the damp ground. He felt a shock of pain shoot through his ankle.

"Agh!" he groaned, clutching at it.

"What happened? Is it sprained?"

"No, it's only bruised. But it is also a sign. We cannot safely walk when it's this dark out."

"I thought you wanted to go to Fragor as quickly as possible."

"At this rate, it will be quicker to rest now and wait till morning." Jaysse stood up carefully. "We are not covering much ground as we trudge along like this. We are tired and stumbling along slowly in the dark."

Axel mumbled something indistinct.

"A quick rest until morning, and then we shall be on the road again. We have no idea how far Fragor is. It won't do us any good to wear ourselves down on the first day of travel."

Axel begrudgingly agreed, and they settled down for the night. Since neither of them had blankets, they had to sleep on the bare ground. Axel snored and Jaysse talked in his sleep. Night slowly turned to morning, and Jaysse was awoken by a beam of dawn light kissing his face.

"Mmm," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Axel, wake up."

Axel rolled over in his sleep and snored. Jaysse frowned and gave him a kick in the ribs.

"Ouch!"

"I said wake up!"

Axel rubbed his side. "Well, I'm awake now. Are you happy?"

"Come on, we need to be on the road again soon."

"You are so bossy."

"Did you know that you snore? Very loudly?"

"Just before I went out, I heard you talking in your sleep. You kept saying that Ivor isn't your father and something about wanting a puppy. It was the most ridiculous tripe I've ever heard."

"Oh, so you say? At least I didn't get to talk in my sleep very long, because your snoring woke me up."

"You poor innocent soul," Axel mocked.

"If you could just learn to sleep on your side and-" Jaysse trailed off, looking at something in the distance.

"What?" Axel followed his gaze. "Oh my!"

"Fragor isn't as far away as we thought."

No more than fifty meters away loomed the crumbling, cratered walls of a city. Smoke curled into the sky from within the city. The shouts and whoops of feral men echoed even from a distance.

"It looks even greater in person!" Axel thrust his arms to the sky. "Come! Time's-a-wastin!"

Axel bumbled towards the broken gates. Jaysse was a bit more hesitant, putoff by the kingdom's disheveled appearance. Surely this wasn't the place Gabriel had meant? He checked his compass again. The needle still pointed straight at the ruins in front of him.

"I suppose this is our place," he conceded, and ran to catch up with Axel.

There were no guards posted at the gates. Axel and Jaysse got in simply by climbing over the jumble of metal bars and clamps that, once upon a time, had been a proper gate. Once inside, they could fully appreciate the magnitude of the kingdom's recklessness.

There wasn't a single building not damaged to some degree. Many were missing roofs or parts of the walls had been blown out. Fires burned on the sidewalks. Craters, some of them still hot and smoking, pockmarked the street. Stray dogs picked through garbage piles and stray children wrestled each other in the streets. It was a wild place, a far cry from the tidy streets of Murex.

"Incredible! Amazing! Awesome!" Axel gushed, staring at all the buildings with a gaping smile.

"I don't have a good feeling about this place," Jaysse said. "It seems a bit...dangerous."

"Of course it's dangerous. That's what makes it fun! Fragor is a kingdom for rogues."

"We don't need a rogue. We need someone who knows how to kill the Deurodragon. And by the looks of it, these people are unqualified."

He pointed at a group of dirty-faced Fragorians watching them from their perch in a partially destroyed building. The hooligans had scars and tattoos galore. They twirled knives in their hands. It looked as if they were poised to rob Jaysse and Axel, but then they apparently decided that the boys didn't have anything valuable to steal. They slipped back into hiding.

"So we need to find Magnus. Do we know where he is?" Axel rubbed the back of his neck.

"In his castle, most likely." Jaysse looked off into the distance, where he saw a threatening black castle with sharp spires. "I don't think getting inside will be easy, though."

"We'd need a way to distract the guards so we could sneak inside," Axel said. "I was thinking that maybe we could…"

Jaysse and Axel were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice a threat lurking nearby. A small, thin person, whose face was shadowed by a cowl, crept up to the boys on silent footsteps. He or she drew two daggers from sheathes at their hips and rubbed their fingers on the handles, eagerly anticipating the strike. In a way, the assassin considered themselves to be doing them a favor. Putting them out of their misery before they realized how terrible Fragor truly was.

The skin on the back of Jaysse's neck prickled. Something didn't feel right. He glanced behind him.

"Shh," he told Axel.

"But I thought you wanted to hear my pla-AAUGH!" Axel yelped as the bandit pounced at Jaysse suddenly. But Jaysse was quick to react and dodged out of the way, missing the blade. The bandit somersaulted their way out of a bad landing and popped to their feet.

"Hey!" Jaysse said. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Why don't you take a guess, smart one?" the assassin retorted. Axel and Jaysse fled. They were unarmed and the aggressor had two daggers, so running away was the best option. It seemed insignificant at the time, but the assailant had a female voice. He and Axel ducked between two buildings.

"They're trying to kill us!" Axel gasped.

"Obviously!" Jaysse tried not to roll his eyes. "Do you still think Fragor is a great place?"

"We didn't _do_ anything yet! We don't have anything valuable to steal! Why does he want to kill us?"

"Thrill of the hunt, brother!" said the bandit with a chuckle. She was chasing them by running along the rafters of the building to their right. She was as nimble as a cat, too, expertly leaping over obstacles and swinging over gaps.

Axel was still dumbfounded. "Psycho!"

"One more thing: I'm a girl, you dumb oaf."

And now he was even more dumbfounded. "Psycho girl!"

She leapt down from her perch and tackled Jaysse. Jaysse wrestled with her, struggling to avoid her wildly stabbing dagger. He managed to throw her off and kick her away, but she wouldn't give up. Jaysse realized that he would have to do something soon, because they couldn't fight her bare-handed and she was not going to leave them alone. Maybe…

No, it was too risky.

But then again, this was a risky situation.

Jaysse made a quick glance around for something to use his magic on. Luckily, the surrounding buildings had stone framework. Loose stone framework.

The bandit was back with a vengeance. Her cowl had fallen down in the skirmish, so now Jaysse could see her frizzy _blue_ hair and the bloodlust in her brown eyes. Not an attractive sight. He backed up against a house that was close to collapsing. The bandit lunged at him, dagger poised to stab again. Then Jaysse suddenly dodged out of her way, tripping her as he did. She couldn't save the landing quickly enough and tumbled into the broken shack. While she was still down, Jaysse acted. He stomped his foot on the ground, sending out a shockwave of magic.

The stone walls of the house quivered, then crumbled. The roof collapsed in on itself, trapping the would-be assassin under a mountain of wooden beams and thatch. Jaysse waited for the dust to settle, then sauntered up to her with his arms crossed. Her legs were pinned under a pile of beams, keeping her from escaping.

She coughed. "If you've broken my legs, I'll break your neck."

He got down on her level. "Why did you try to attack us?"

"Are you dense?" she retorted. "This is Fragor. No-one walks around in Fragor and doesn't get attacked on the streets."

"How uncouth."

"This is a lawless town. It attracts some dangerous characters."

"Like you."

"That is not incorrect."

"Seeing as though we trapped you, it looks like you owe us a favor."

She rolled her eyes.

"First, you have to tell us your name."

"I'm Nohr."

"I'm Jaysse, and this is Axel."

"I don't care."

"Now you need to tell us your motivation behind trying to kill us, besides the excuse that 'everyone in Fragor does it.' Because that is not much of an excuse."

"I'm a mercenary and an assassin. I have to stay in practice."

"By murdering people?"

"Only weak outsiders. In a way, I would have put you out of your misery."

"Sick."

"I didn't ask your opinion. Are those all your demands?"

"My friend and I will free you from your...predicament...if you help us."

Nohr just laughed; it was a hoarse sound. She must not have laughed often.

"You would rather be left for dead under ruins?"

"I find it preferable to being ordered around by a wimp."

"I am not a wimp. I destroyed the house to pin you under it," Jaysse boasted.

Nohr squinted. "How did you do that? The foundation completely broke apart. That's almost impossible."

Jaysse caught himself. "I, uh, found some loose stones in the walls and kicked them out. Whole thing collapsed after that."

He had to be careful. One slip like that and his secret would be discovered. He couldn't let anyone know he had magic, not even with Gabriel far away and possibly not even alive. It was too risky.

Nohr traced her fingers on the floor, considering it. "Okay. I will help you idiots. But first you have to free me. And if you double-cross me, I will find out...and I will gladly kill you."

"Help me with the beam, Axel." Jaysse hoisted up one end of the beam pinning down Nohr. Axel easily picked up the other. Working together, they lifted it off Nohr and tossed it aside. Once she was free, the mercenary girl leapt up and laughed maniacally.

"Aha! You're so gullible. Now to do what I should've don-" She went for her daggers again, only to find out that they were gone. "Huh?"

"Oh, they must have gotten lost when the house collapsed," Jaysse said, in mock pity. "That's too bad."

"Help me find them," Nohr demanded.

"And have you come after us to kill us again? No thanks." Axel crossed his arms. "I want to live."

Nohr growled. "Okay. What stupid errand do you want me to do?"

"You will help us sneak into Magnus's castle," Jaysse said.

She looked them up and down. "You don't look like the thieving type. If you're going to steal from a king's castle, you should have better equipment. Like...weapons?"

Jaysse was going to explain, but then decided against it. He just shrugged instead.

"Unless those are disguises. I must admit, you play the part of a bumbling servant and the village idiot quite well." She gave them a unkind wink. "Unless it's not an act."

"Just show us how to get in the castle." Jaysse was losing patience.

Nohr turned aside from them, laughing. "All right, all right. Come on, fools. Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

Explosions rumbled in the distance. The smell of burning wood was always in the air. Every so often, Jaysse heard the mad cackle of a rogue who'd just accomplished some mischief. It was an unsettling sound. He'd almost wished King Gabriel had sent him to help Olivia find Queen Ellegaard instead.

Every time an explosion went off, Jaysse could feel the shockwave vibrate through the ground. It affected his magic sense, shaking it up and making him feel dizzy. Because of this, he stumbled and bumped into things a lot. Nohr thought he was a bumbling idiot, and this behavior confirmed it in her sight.

"Would it be possible for you to walk in a straight line?" she sneered.

"Leave me alone," he mumbled, balancing himself against a wall.

"I hope you're not leading us into a trap," Axel said to Nohr.

She chuckled nastily. "Try not to give me any ideas."

Right now, they were crawling through a tunnel formed by collapsed houses. To Jaysse's dismay, the unstable structure creaked and groaned while they walked through it, as if it was going to implode at any moment. He half-wondered if Nohr was leading them through a dangerous passageway on purpose. After all, she hated their guts and had been a little too eager to kill them upon their first meeting.

"So, uh, have you lived in Fragor for a long time?" Axel asked her, trying to strike up conversation. He was a chatty type.

"Does not concern you," Nohr responded tartly.

"Who are your friends?"

"Not you and the village idiot," said she, casting a scornful look at Jaysse. "Most certainly not."

"Do you have a tragic backstory? What led you to life as a roguish mercenary?"

"Hey, could you do me a favor, servant boy?" Nohr stopped, hand on her hip.

"What is it?"

"Do kindly shut up."

"Oh. Sorry."

Jaysse made a snorting sound as he tried to hold back his laughter. He brushed his hands together.

Another explosion rattled the ground. Jaysse's teeth chattered, but Axel just laughed.

"Now there's a beautiful sound!" he said with a guffaw. "Kapow! Never gets old."

"Isn't it?" Nohr's grumpy demeanor softened a little. "I'm so glad Magnus entered into that trade deal with the East. Jade and silk are forgettable, but our lives have been changed by the black powder."

"But have they changed for the better?" Jaysse wondered aloud.

"It certainly makes life interesting," Nohr said. "And more rewarding for a rogue."

"So who gives you the reward for...whatever you do as a mercenary?" Jaysse put a hand on his hip.

"Oh, it varies." Nohr shrugged. "Sometimes I'm hired to kill a personal foe of someone, so then that person forks over the gold. Other times, I go outside Fragor and join an army for a little bit, so I get paid as a soldier for hire. Acting as a bounty hunter is more rewarding, though, so that's what I usually do."

"Sounds like an awful way to live," Jaysse commented. "You make a living by making others die."

Nohr shrugged. "I didn't say it was the kind of work everyone could do."

"You're not gonna kill us as soon as you get the chance, right?" Axel twiddled his fingers nervously.

"I can make no promises about that," was the mercenary woman's response.

Both Axel and Jaysse shuddered.

"There is the castle," Nohr said, pointing ahead. Jaysse and Axel crept up behind her for a look. A small castle with tall spires loomed none too far in the distance. It was built of a dark-colored stone and had green banners hanging off the walls. About twenty meters of no-man's-land stretched between the castle and its raiders. It was an open patch of dirt, with piles of rubble here and there. But it was no doubt crawling with bloodthirsty bandits.

Jaysse gulped. "So, how are we going to get close enough? If we run through the open, we're sure to get attacked. And we have no weapons."

"I _had_ weapons." Nohr glared at him. "We'll survive by our wits. Oh, and maybe this, too."

She picked an iron rod off the ground. It must have broken off a structure. It apparently would make a nice makeshift bludgeon. She slapped it against her hand a couple times and nodded. Jaysse fidgeted.

"So...are you ready?" She smirked.

Jaysse winced. "I suppose…"

"Good. Let's go."

With Nohr in the lead, the group ran out from their hiding-place. Jaysse let loose with a wail as they ran for the castle. Something exploded a dozen meters or so away, and the shockwave from the explosion made him stumble. Axel grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet before he fell over.

"Come on, princess!" Nohr goaded. A Fragorian jumped out of a rubble pile, but she beat them to the ground with her iron rod. A bit of blood sprayed onto Jaysse's tunic; he tried not to get sick at the sight.

"Fresh meat!" cried another Fragorian, who lunged out of the shadows at Axel. Axel gasped and lashed out with his fists, landing a hard punch right in the person's face. They fell to the ground, stunned by the attack.

"Ha! Not too bad if you ask me," Axel boasted to Jaysse.

"Yeah, but can we survive the rest of them?" They had run about halfway through the no-man's-land. Someone lit a bundle of timber on fire and dropped it on the group from above. Nohr saw it coming and batted it away with the rod. It landed in a mud puddle and fizzled out.

"Why does everyone want to kill us here?" Jaysse cried out. "I hate this place!"

"Woo! Anyone can get killed here!" Nohr gleefully bashed another Fragorian on the skull with her weapon. "I love this place!"

"Ouch! You could smash a man's skull in with that thing," Jaysse said. "Brutal!"

"That's the idea, princess." Nohr twirled the rod around in her hand, then clocked yet another bandit on the head with it. "Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"This woman is insane," Jaysse muttered to himself. Thankfully, the gauntlet of terror was about to end, because they had reached the castle grounds by this point. Not that the spot was really worthy to be called a grounds. That implied an orderly greenspace in front of the castle. No, what they ran into could more accurately be described as a sewer. Within just a few strides, they stumbled into a ditch full of sludge.

"Oh! That's repulsive," Jaysse complained. "Now how do we get inside without the guards noticing?"

"We sneak in. Obviously." Nohr rolled her eyes. "Don't think I don't know how to do it, either. I have snuck inside this place more times than I can count."

"And how high can you count?" Jaysse perked an eyebrow and smirked.

Nohr glared. "I still have the rod, you know."

That shut Jaysse up pretty quickly. He, Nohr, and Axel trudged through the miry ditch, going around the perimeter of the castle. It led up to a hefty pile of rubbish behind the castle.

"We crawl up the rubbish chute," Nohr said, starting her way up the mountain of garbage. "That will take us right into the kitchens of the castle, and from there...well, we figure out what we do when we get to that point."

"Oh, great," Jaysse sighed. "Not another crawl through sewage."

"Do you want to get into the castle or not?" She flipped her blue hair in annoyance.

"I do, I do," Jaysse said, hesitantly climbing onto the trash heap. He helped Axel onto the pile; the burly boy's shoes kept slipping. Together, the three of them forced their way up the rubbish pile. At its peak, it was on level with a metal tube sticking out of the castle wall.

"We're lucky," Nohr said. "We came just in time. Y'see, they let the rubbish pile up until it's level with the chute, and then they cart it away. I don't know where they dump it, nor do I care. All I know is that it's going to help us today."

"Uh-huh." Jaysse was still unconvinced.

"Jaysse, do you know if Olivia still wants me as her servant?" Axel asked randomly.

"How should I know? And why do you want to know now, of all times?"

"Well, if she does, she will be upset about the state of my uniform."

They were almost at the top now, but the task wasn't as easy as it was shaping up to be. The shuffling garbage made so much noise that the raiders didn't notice that they had company.

"Hey!" a guard shouted from the bottom of the trash pile. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh-oh!" Nohr looked startled for the first time that day. She started climbing faster. So did Jaysse and Axel.

"Oh, no, you don't." The guard got out an unlit torch. In Fragor, the guards usually dished out the ultimate situation when dealing with particularly unruly people. He lit the torch and touched it to the bottom of the rubbish pile.

Jaysse sniffed. "Do you smell something burning?"

The three of them looked down, saw the flames slithering up from the bottom of the trash pile, and shrieked.

"Quick!" Nohr gripped the edges of the trash chute and forced her way through. "In the chute! NOW!"

They wasted no time. Jaysse nearly had a heart attack when Axel almost got stuck in the chute and started frantically pushing him from behind to make him fit. Eventually Axel managed to make it through the chute, and Jaysse climbed in after, just in time for the whole rubbish heap to go up in flames.

"Wow," Jaysse gasped as they crawled up the chute. "That was scary."

"No kidding," Nohr grunted. "You two should have been keeping watch. And you made me drop my weapon, too."

"Us? How about you? You're the guide." Jaysse beat his hand against the metal chute in frustration. "Why weren't you keeping watch?"

"Shut up! Look, we're almost in the kitchen." Nohr forced open a little metal door (the opening to the chute, clearly.) Beyond it, Jaysse could see glowing ovens and hanging meat shanks. Nohr, grumbling to herself, squirmed out of the chute and stumbled onto the kitchen floor. Jaysse and Axel were soon to follow.

"Okay, fools," said she, "here we are. The kitchen. I helped you dummies get into the castle. Now will you leave me alone?"

"Yes. Like we promised." Jaysse nodded.

"Oh, boy. Oh, boy!" Axel nearly drooled at the sight of the meat shanks and fluffy cakes. "We can stop to eat now, right?"

"I ought to thank you, Jaysse." Nohr smiled a little too sweetly.

"Why…?" Jaysse took a nervous step backwards.

"Why, you let me lead you right into the room full of knives!" Cackling, Nohr swiped two large knives and wielded them as she had her dagger. "Now all bets are off!"

"Nohr, don't you dare." Jaysse tensed up.

She spun them around and pointed them at him. "En garde, village idiot. Pick up a knife so you have a slim chance of living."

Jaysse hesitated, then grabbed a knife of his own. He and Nohr squared off, brandishing their blades as if they were tiny swords.

"It's two against one, Jay," Axel encouraged, stepping in to help Jaysse. "We have this one."

Nohr suddenly struck out, knives flashing. She had the reflexes of a cat. Jaysse narrowly parried her blow, whipping his own knife back and forth to block her attacks.

"Stop it!" he snapped at her. "You do not need to act this way."

"Oh, but I want to."

Axel waited for his opportunity. He waited for Nohr to hop a little closer to him, and while she was still distracted by fighting Jaysse, he suddenly whipped out his fist and struck her on the side of her head. Nohr yelped, then collapsed. She had been knocked unconscious by the blow. The knives slipped out of her grip and skidded across the floor.

"Good shot, Axel." Jaysse nodded. "Thanks."

"What do you think will happen to her when the guards find her in the castle?" Axel scratched the back of his neck.

"No idea. Let's not linger here and find out."

"What about the cake?" Axel gazed at it longingly.

"Forget the cake, Axel. This is urgent."

"Fine."

They scurried out of the kitchen. The hallways of Magnus's castle were shadowy, allowing them to creep along in relative secrecy. The whole castle was disorderly; there was no coherent architecture and the placement of the rooms seemed quite random. Floor were uneven and the walls seemed like they were made out of many different kinds of stone and brick. It was as if the castle had been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt over time.

"What a crazy place," Axel commented. "I like it."

"This is ridiculous." Jaysse kicked a loose floor tile. "Where are we going to find Magnus?"

A strange voice behind them said, "You will find him very soon."

Jaysse and Axel spun around. A squad of guards had snuck up behind them. Guards in Fragor were surprisingly stealthy. They had their weapons drawn.

"You're under arrest."

* * *

Jaysse and Axel, with their hands wrenched behind their backs, were goaded along through the castle corridors. The guards pushed them from behind to keep them moving. They were taken through the halls, down some stairs, across a foyer, and then up another flight of stairs, until they were placed in front of a large pair of double doors. Clearly the doors to a throne room.

"Good luck, raiders," one of the guards sneered as the doors were opened and the boys herded inside. "Magnus isn't known for his mercy."

Two soldiers grabbed Jaysse and Axel by their collars and dragged them across the smooth tile floor. The throne room was actually rather small and boring. There were no war spoils or treasures or other impressive things to gawk at therein. In fact, the only thing of value in the room was the silver-plated and emerald-studded throne in its center. The boys were thrown at its foot and at the mercy of its occupant.

An imposing man sat on the throne, and Jaysse could tell right away that the person was Magnus. He had broad shoulders and a tall stature. He wore a green-and-brown coat with a dark green cape, and a simple gold crown sat atop his bald head.

"We caught them snooping in the castle," a guard explained to the Fragorian king.

Magnus nodded, then signaled for the soldiers to leave. They guards departed, leaving just Magnus, Jaysse, and Axel.

"Who are you jokers?" he rumbled. His voice was deep and scratchy.

"I'm Axel! My name is Axel!" The servant boy hopped up and down in excitement. "Oh! I can't believe we got caught by Magnus! Jay, this is amazing!"

"And, uh, my name is Jaysse. We are, um, sorry about sneaking into your castle," Jaysse stammered, trying to ignore Axel. "We had to talk to you."

"So does everyone else in Fragor." Magnus cracked his knuckles. "What do you two want?"

Jaysse straightened his back. "I was sent here by King Gabriel of Murex."

"I know Gabriel is from Murex. Not dumb." Magnus tapped his head. "And I'm also not dumb enough to think that the king of Murex sent...whatever you two are...to talk to me. You're obviously just here to make trouble."

Jaysse grunted. "What would convince you that Gabriel sent me?"

Magnus shrugged. "I don't know, kid. Now leave me alone. I have a kingdom to run. Disorder to keep, you know?"

He started to walk away, but Jaysse stopped him.

"Wait. I think I can prove it to you."

"If you say so.." Magnus turned back. "Prove it to me."

Jaysse pulled the compass-medallion out of his pocket and showed it to Magnus. The king's dark eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow! You weren't lying." He looked shocked that a scruffy, dirty young man was carrying Gabriel's medallion. "So he really gave it to you? I really need to hear this story."

"Of course you do." Jaysse twirled the medallion on its string. "An angry warlock set a monster called a Deurodragon loose on Murex. The dragon destroyed the place and I'm pretty sure it killed King Gabriel. Before the dragon got him, he gave the medallion to me and told me to look for you. So Axel and I went to Fragor to find you."

Magnus shrugged. "Sounds like a tall story. Are you sure that isn't just some cheap replica? Give me the medallion."

Jaysse didn't see any point in resisting. "Here you go."

"Let me see this thing." Magnus poked the dial. "If this thing is for real, it should have...well, well!"

He unscrewed the dial, revealing a secret compartment underneath. A small gold charm lay therein. Jaysse couldn't recognize the shape of the charm.

"Only the Order of the Royals knows about that compartment." Magnus snapped the dial back on. "You've got the real thing. Did you steal it from him?"

Jaysse shook his head. "Please, you have to believe me. This is urgent. The Deurodragon could destroy the world."

"Destruction is kind of fun." Magnus chuckled.

Jaysse scowled. "Well, it won't be when everything is destroyed and everyone is killed. I think Gabriel wanted to reunite the Order of the Royals."

"Well, by the sound of your story, Gabriel bit the dust. And whatever happened to Ellegaard...eh, not my problem. I don't care about her anymore. And no-one's seen Soren for years. You could have a problem rounding us up, kid."

"What do you mean, you don't care what happens to Ellegaard?" Jaysse put his hands on his hips. "I thought she was your comrade. Or at least she used to be. Did something happen between you two or..."

"None of your blasted business!"

"We can't sit here and do nothing while the dragon destroys the world. Come on, you and the Order used to be legendary heroes. Do heroes let dragons eat the world?"

"Hmph."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Mm-I-guess-they-don't," Magnus muttered.

"So it's yes, then."

"I hope this is not just some stupid prank." Magnus crossed his arms.

"It is not. I promise."

"Well, good, because if it is a prank and you got me all excited over nothing, I'm going to strap you two to a firework and shoot you into the sky. Are we clear?"

Jaysse gulped. "Yes, sir-your majesty."

"Good. Now before I help you, there's just one little problem." He tapped his fingers on the armrest of his throne. "One little thing that might make leaving this place hard."

"Uh, what is it?" Axel asked.

" _My kingdom is crawling with bloodthirsty bandits!"_ Magnus slammed his fist on the throne armrest.

"Oh, we know that." Jaysse thought back to Nohr and wondered how the girl was faring at this point.

"So then, wise one, how do you suggest we get through them?"

"Aren't you king? You could just order them to-"

"That's not how it works in Fragor. This is a lawless town. The only power I have is within these walls. That's why I never leave, y'see?"

"So this whole trip is for naught, then?" Jaysse growled.

Magnus sunk back in his seat. "Well...Maybe it does not have to be…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's quite obvious that Fragor is unstable."

Jaysse nodded. Lukas's lean-to shelters were more stable than Fragor.

"So what if we staged a coup? Made it look like you overthrew me as king? We could escape while the bandits squabble in the aftermath."

Jaysse shrugged. "I guess that could be a plan. But how would we stage a coup?"

"The same way all want-to-be-kings bring a coup. You take the power from the current king by overpowering him. Me, I took the power from the last king by proving to the others that I was stronger than him."

"So I need the bandits to think that I'm stronger than you."

"Yes. You need to prove your worth."

"How will I do that?" Jaysse ran a hand through his scruffy hair.

"Face me in a challenge and come out on top." Magnus folded his hands in his lap.

"Uh, what kind of challenge?" Jaysse asked, nervous.

"A melee duel!"


	7. Chapter 7

**And here I thought that writing the duel scene would be easy...sheesh. Darn writer's block...**

Jaysse's nose wrinkled up in confusion. "A melee duel? You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am!" Magnus laughed crazily. "You have to prove your worth, and that's how someone proves his worth in Boom Town!"

"I'm not a warrior, sir." Jay stammered. "I could never defeat you in a duel."

"Cabbage head!" Magnus whacked Jay upside the head with a wooden staff. "Of course you couldn't. I never said I expected you to win. That's why we have to stage it. Have you never heard of theater, boy?"

Jay rubbed his sore head. "Ouch...Well, all right, but how are we going to stage a hand-to-hand combat?"

"Simple. We just smash our weapons together and make fake swings and pretend to get hurt. The griefers won't notice if it's not real. In case you haven't noticed, they're not the sharpest swords in the armoury. They just want to see clashing metal and a bit of blood flying."

"Blood flying?" Jay made a face. "You said we were not going to hurt each other."

"Well, there might be some collateral damage. But we'll both walk away from the event alive...Hopefully."

" _Hopefully?!_ " Jay fumed. "I don't want _hopefully_. I want _definitely!_ "

"Picky, picky," Magnus scolded. "Don't be such a daffodil. I was joking. Can you not take a joke?"

Jay crossed his arms. "Every minute you waste means that the Deurodragon is free to fly around and eat everything! We don't have time for jokes."

"All right, fine." Magnus turned to a soldier standing a few feet away. "You there. Go ring the warning bell. Let the rabble know there's going to be a melee."

"Yes sir." The soldier scurried off to do that. Magnus turned his attention back to Jay and Axel.

"All right." Magnus smacked his hands together. "Now that I took care of that, let me tell you more about what to expect. You can swing a blade without actually hitting anything, can you?"

"Uh, yes," said Jay. He had never really swung a blade before, so he didn't expect to hit anything anyway.

"And you can act as if you're hurt?"

Jay shrugged. "I think so."

"We should test it." Magnus walloped Jay on the head with the staff again. Jay groaned in pain. He rubbed his throbbing skull.

"Ouch…" he moaned. "Stop doing that."

"Good," said Magnus. "Now if you can do that when I actually don't hit you, that should do the trick."

Jay looked like he was going to collapse. "Why…"

* * *

Magnus and his ensemble of guards took Jay and Axel a small ways away from the castle. The soldiers didn't wear armor, but they carried brutal-looking battleaxes to deter the rabble. It worked. The streets of Fragor were mostly empty, anyway. Fires crackled in the streets and fresh craters were still smoldering, suggesting that it was only recently that the Fragorians had deserted the place.

"Where did they go?" Jay asked, glancing around at the oddly quiet place.

"I sounded the bell, remember?" Magnus was adjusting his crown. "They've gone to see what all the fuss is about. They love it whenever two Fragorians square off in a duel. Especially if it's a fight to the death."

Jay frowned. "Wait...some people here fight to the death?"

"Mm-hmm. That's what the rabble likes the best. It's the most exciting. The fighting is the fiercest when the stakes are the highest."

"That's terrible! Complete waste of life, if you ask me." Jay crossed his arms.

Magnus snorted. "Except that I didn't ask you."

"Don't tell me that is the usual thing those scoundrels do for fun."

"Well, not quite. They also duel to settle disputes. Like, if one person cheats another and they can't solve the issue with words...they take it to the Pit and decide it with a fight."

"That's a good, direct way to do it." Axel nodded approvingly.

Jay was still worried (and understandably so.) "So, are you absolutely sure that this...this duel we are about to fight...will _not_ be a fight to the death?"

"If you keep from doing anything stupid, it should be." The rogue king shrugged. "I mean, if you make a bad decision, that is not my fault."

"Small comfort," Jay muttered.

"There will be quite a crowd," Magnus says. "Nothing attracts the rabble to a duel faster than hearing that the king himself will be one of the fighters."

"Great," Jay sighed. If Magnus went crazy, everyone in Fragor would get to see Jay be defeated, probably in some painful and humiliating way.

To say that he wasn't looking forward to this fight was an understatement.

By now they had arrived at the Pit. Battered trees shaded a sandy pit from the baking sun. A low stone wall ringed about the pit. There were no seats, however, so the observers of this duel made do with their surroundings. They sat on walls, nested in the trees, or reclined in the ruins of destroyed houses. They cheered and pumped their fists in the air as the duelists approached the ring.

Jay and Axel were moved to one side of the Pit while Magnus stayed in the other. The rogue king took off his crown and doffed his cape, handing the regalia to a waiting servant. He cracked his knuckles and flashed a confident smirk to Jay.

Axel dug a piece of charcoal out of his pocket and gave it to Jay. Jay used it to touch up the kohl under his eyes. The sun was bright and hot over Fragor, and Jay wanted to block out some of that annoying glare.

As the duelists sized up each other, a moderator vaulted over the wall and interposed himself between them. The moderator had a tense expression from years of squinting in the Fragorian sun. He had quite the set of tattoos as well: a red snake coiled about his right arm, a blue dragon slithered down his left arm, and his ankles were splattered with weird runic symbols. He wore a sleeveless shirt and short trousers to show off his ink.

" _Women and men of Fragor!_ " he hooted at the crowd. " _Are you ready for the battle of the year?"_

They roared in excitement. Some of them beat their fists against the stone walls, only to immediately regret that action as they rubbed their sore hands. One guy pounded on his chest and howled like an ape.

The moderator really hammed it up to excite the crowd. " _Today's fight is a melee duel, and not just any! This is no causal battle or final solution to an argument. This is a battle to decide the future of Fragor!"_

"Ooh," said the crowd, scooting forward in their seats. One person scooted too far, falling off the roof of a wrecked house.

" _Today, in this corner, we have our champion, our own King of Fragor! The undefeated Magnus is poised to defend his title and crown. Give it up for MAAAAAAAGNUUUUUS!"_

The crowd chanted "Magnus! Magnus!" over and over again while the king pumped a victory fist at them and flexed his biceps. Jay watched the whole display in confusion.

"I like my crown. It's shiny!" Magnus yelled to the crowd. They laughed at his joke.

The moderator spun around and pointed at Jay. " _And over here is the challenger: something the cat dragged in!"_

Jay blushed in embarrassment as the crowd laughed. His face felt all hot and red. He glared over at Magnus. He was trying to say 'Did you really tell him I was something the cat dragged in?' with his eyes, but wasn't sure if his message was getting through.

" _In the melee duel, the weapons used will be the fighters' choice! They can choose almost anything they want!"_ The moderator took center stage again and thrust his arms in the air. " _So the duelists ought to make their choices carefully."_

In opposite ends of the Pit stood two tables; one for the champion and one for the challenger. A soldier guided Jay over to his table. Laid across the table's expanse were an assortment of weapons: a broadsword, three throwing knives, an axe, a mace, a Roman whip, a bow and arrows, and a slingshot. Jay stared at the weaponry, having no clue what would be a decent choice. He worried that choosing an obviously lethal item like the axe or whip would make Magnus think that he was really out for blood. But on the other hand, if Magnus chose something deadly and Jay didn't, the situation would be terrible.

The soldier cleared his throat. "Don't take too long choosing."

"Let me think for a minute!" Jay snapped.

"You don't have a minute," the soldier said. "Pick something or it will be picked for you."

Jay grunted at him and grabbed the mace. However, it was heavier than he expected. He should have anticipated that a ball of solid lead on a stick would be heavy. It slipped out of his hand and landed on the ground with a thud. The soldier looked at it, then at Jay, and then laughed.

"This should be entertaining," he chortled.

"Pray for me," Jay muttered as he took the bow and arrows instead. He slung the arrow bag over his shoulder and strung the bow. It was far easier to carry than the mace.

"I think I will." The soldier gently pushed Jay back towards the middle of the Pit. "You're going to need all the help you can get."

"You've got this, Jay!" Axel shouted from behind the Pit wall. He wasn't allowed to enter the ring because the melee was strictly a one-on-one combat. But he was allowed to shout as much encouragement at his friend as he wanted, so he took advantage of that.

Magnus sauntered to the center of the ring soon thereafter. He twirled a throwing knife in his hand as he stuck its four siblings in slots in his belt. He handled the weapons with grace and confidence; he was clearly used to wielding them.

The moderator waved around a little green flag as he announced the start of the match: " _The duelists have chosen their weapons. And now, for the moment of truth! We shall see who walks away with the crown. And remember the most important rule of the melee-"_

"There are no rules!" interrupted one Fragorian.

" _No biting. That is all,_ " said the moderator. " _Other than that, do what works!_ "

The moderator skedaddled away from the duelists. Jay gulped and hesitantly nocked an arrow on the bow. He was not very experienced with shooting a bow. He hoped that he could shoot purposely weak arrows that would look convincing, but not actually injure Magnus. He just hoped that Magnus would bluff with his knife-throwing as well.

"So you chose the bow, eh?" Magnus twirled the knife in his fingers. "Not really melee, but still a good choice. Classic, and good distance. Your move, cherry blossom."

Jay grunted, a little offended that Magnus called him a cherry blossom. He drew the string back and then let go of it. The arrow jumped from the bow, and all but flopped on the ground a pace in front of Magnus's feet. The rogue king glanced down at the arrow, then up at Jay with a perked eyebrow. Many spectators booed at the pathetic sight.

"That's how you don't shoot an arrow!" Jay called to them, trying to save face. He loaded another arrow on the bow. He yelped and dodged to the side as a knife sliced through the air, just missing his ear.

"Churl! You are but a student in the way of weapons! This lesson may have to be your last." Magnus puffed out his chest and tipped back his chin. He turned his back on Jay to smile at the Fragorians cheering for him behind him.

It was probably cowardly, but the situation looked desperate anyway, so Jay took advantage of Magnus's turned back. He pulled back the bowstring, but lightly so, and tipped it as he anticipated the arc the arrow would take. He let go of the string. The arrow leapt into the air and landed quite delicately on Magnus's lower back. The arrowhead tore through his shirt and left a bleeding cut on his skin, but didn't seem to do any significant damage. Jay nodded to himself.

"Yowp!" Magnus yelped in pain, ripping the arrow away and spinning around to see Jay nocking on another arrow. "Hey!"

The crowd giggled.

"It, uh, looks as if the student has become the master!" Jay tried to think of something clever to say for the audience.

Magnus's face went bright red. "It will take more than one poorly shot arrow to defeat me!"

Jay dodged to the side again as a knife whipped past his head. Magnus had a cannon for arm. He answered the attack with another weak arrow. It poked into Magnus's arm. The rogue king winced, pulled it out, and cast it aside again. He licked away the blood, then got ready to throw another knife. In response, Jay nocked a third arrow. The two duelists stared each other down, daring each other to make the first move.

"Boo!" yelled someone in the crowd. "This is boring. I want to see MELEE!"

Several other people yelled in agreement that the match was getting boring. They grew weary of the lack of close-range blows.

" _What's that?"_ the moderator howled, walking into view again. " _It looks like the crowd is getting BORED! I guess we need to find a way to spice things up."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jay whimpered, but he didn't lower the bow.

"They might change things up a bit," Magnus replied, knives still poised to throw. "I guess we aren't entertaining enough."

Two soldiers hurried onto the field, one approaching Jay and the other walking over to Magnus. They both held shiny iron swords with curving blades. Magnus tossed his knives to the ground. Jay assumed that it was safe to let go of his weapon now, so he dropped the bow and arrow. The soldiers tossed the swords to Jay and Magnus. Magnus caught it expertly, but Jay bobbled the catch. He dropped the sword on the ground and had to sweep it back up quickly. Once both duelists had their swords, the soldiers skedaddled out of the way.

The moderator waved to the rabble. " _This should be more interesting...a melee proper! With katana swords from the eastern kingdoms, no less!"_

The crowd cheered, their interest rejuvenated.

Jay gulped and tried to figure out the best way to hold his new weapon. He had hardly handled the straight-bladed swords he was familiar with, much less one of these odd curved swords from the east. The blade was thinner, but needle-sharp on the end, and some symbols from the eastern kingdoms' language were graven on the hilt. Jay wondered what they meant, but he didn't have time to ponder on it.

Mangus twirled the sword; unlike Jay, he was familiar with the way of the katana. He made a swing at Jay, who frantically brought up his own sword to block it. Steel collided with steel, and the shockwaves made Jay's arm muscles quiver. Jay batted aside Magnus's sword and scrambled back a step, only for Magnus to spring forward and close up the distance between them. Magnus stuck again and Jay struggled to block it. He panicked, not sure if Magnus was flynning or if the rogue king really meant to hurt him.

"Fight me, cherry blossom!" Magnus yelled at Jay, who continued to block without actually retaliating. "You can't win this duel just by blocking."

Jay feebly lashed out, swinging his katana about to make an attack of his own. The sword was heavy for him to hold in one hand, and it almost slipped out of his grip. His katana bashed against Magnus's, throwing some sparks but doing nothing else.

"Attaboy!" Magnus chuckled. "Put some backbone in it."

Jay blocked another attack, then tried again. The swords clanged and the sparks flew. Magnus liked to make big, grandiose sweeps with his weapon, and Jay copied his style, assuming that it was the proper way to fight with a sword. What he didn't know was that it was one of Magnus's schemes. Despite being older than Jay, Magnus had better stamina and could keep up with the wild swings for longer. Jay was unaware that he was tiring himself out by sweeping the blade in big arcs.

Before long, he felt his arm muscles aching. They continued to slam their swords together, but Jay's attacks were getting more feeble with each swing. He panted and gasped, but Magnus was relentless. There was a roguish gleam in Magnus's eyes; he was obviously having a wonderful time. Jay wondered whether it was really good acting or if the rogue king truly intended to strike him down.

"We're supposed to bluff this fight," Jay whispered frantically, but his voice was all but drowned out by the clanging steel.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Magnus cackled. Now that Jay was worn out, he switched to making quick lunges with the katana instead. Jay frantically dodged away from the stabbing blade. What on earth? Magnus was supposed to be bluffing! That wasn't bluffing! Jay glanced around frantically, wondering what he should do. He couldn't use his magic in front of an entire audience of Fragorians, could he?

He dodged another lunge of the blade.

But there were no rules in the duel. Which mean there couldn't be a rule against magic, right?

Magnus blocked Jay's swing for the umpteenth time. He was too good.

Jay made his decision. This was a pit of sand, but sand was made of earth, and as long as his feet were bare and touching the ground, he could control part of that earth. He twisted his feet in the sand, releasing a pulse of magic. The sand under Magnus's feet suddenly stretched and opened like a mouth. Magnus sunk into the ground until he was half-buried in the sand. He was so surprised that he dropped his sword, which fell on the ground and was swallowed up completely. The rogue king looked up at Jay in shock.

"What the-How the-How did you do that?" The dumbfounded expression on the once-arrogant king's face was comical, but Jay fought to stay stoic.

"What a deus ex machina, eh?" Jay pretended to not know how it happened. "You should really have the sand in the pit checked. Maybe there is a sinkhole underneath us."

Magnus growled. "Cherry blossom."

"Looks like the cherry blossom wins, though." Jay pointed the tip of his katana at Magnus. The crowd cheered.

"Finish him!" some of the more bloodthirsty spectators chanted. "Finish him!"

"I won't be doing that," Jay called over his shoulder to them. "It's quite clear who's the victor here."

"No!" Magnus shouted, struggling to free himself from the sand. "Bother who won the duel, but something's not right here. That was too convenient."

The confident smile dropped off Jay's face.

Magnus's eyes narrowed. "You could almost call that a _magic_ solution to your problem."

Jay tried to feign dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Magnus had pulled himself out of the sand-hole by now. He started to pace around Jay, aiming a suspicious glare at the boy.

"I mean, just the right patch of sand gave way at just the right moment?"

Jay hoped he didn't look too nervous. Because he certainly _felt_ nervous. What would Magnus do if he found out Jay had magic? Did he kill sorcerers like Gabriel did?

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you had magic." Magnus locked gazes with Jay. "Some kind of magic to move the dirt and sand. I've met some earth magicians in my day. It was odd...they always went barefoot. Some kind of need for connection with the earth, something like that."

Jay followed Magnus's line of sight as the rogue king looked down at the boy's feet. His bare, dirty feet. Magnus didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes was enough. A cold sweat of anxiety soaked the back of Jay's tunic.

Magnus started to say something, but a ground-shaking roar echoed through Fragor. Jay recognized the sound, and he got a sinking feeling in his stomach when he did. It was something a million times worse than Magnus finding out that he had magic.


	8. Chapter 8

**I got tired of typing "Jaysse" all the time. He's just Jay now.**

A huge shadow seeped over Fragor as the Deurodragon floated over the kingdom. It had grown a third head and a second tail since Jay last encountered it, and it was big enough to silhouette the sun. Large gusts of wind ripped through Fragor as it flapped its wings.

Magnus gaped at the sight of the creature. "Holy-What is that thing?! Is _that_ your dragon?"

"See, I didn't make it up," Jay stammered.

The Deurodragon swooped over the Pit. It smashed one of its tails into a wall, destroying the wall and sending the Fragorians who'd been sitting on it flying. It snapped up two more people in its jaws and ate them whole. Jay didn't like the Fragorians, but to see them be killed so savagely was still horrifying.

The Pit quickly descended into chaos. People scattered in all directions, screaming and white-faced with fear. The dragon roared and continued its attack, bashing its tails into the ground and grabbing people in its claws to eat them.

"No! Stop eating my kingdom!" Magnus yelled at the dragon. He wasn't afraid of the dragon; he was furious at it!

"Come on!" Jay grabbed the rogue king by the arm, trying to drag him away from the mayhem. "We have to go. I'm sorry, but they're beyond our help right now. We have to go!"

"Jay!" Axel vaulted over the stone wall (quite a feat given his heavyset body) and ran to Jay. "We have to get out of here! The Deurodragon followed us here. I don't know how it did that, how it knew we were here!"

"It doesn't matter right now," Jay shouted over the noise the dragon was making. "What matter is that we get out of here still alive. Come on!"

Jay, Axel, and Magnus ran for their lives from the pellmell behind them. The chaos caused by the Deurodragon put Fragor at its finest to shame. There was a deafening din of buildings collapsing and the ground cracking with the dragon's assault. Jay didn't dare look behind him. He and the others shot northwards, praying to get out of the kingdom still alive. The city walls had fallen to rubble, allowing easy escape. Still not daring to look behind him, Jay led the others out onto the fields.

"We have to...get over...to the camp," Jay explained, wheezing. "That's where...Lukas and...Olivia...are."

It was a grueling run across the fields to the forest. When going to Fragor, Jay and Axel had been able to keep a brisk but managable walk. The sprint over the fields was enough to make Jay's lungs burn and his leg muscles cry for mercy. He wasn't much of a runner to begin with, so this sapped his energy. He was about to collapse by the time the edge of the woods finally came back into view.

It was nearing sunset as the trio approached the edge of the forest. The western sky turned golden as the sun sank towards the horizon. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Jay saw that Lukas had made some renovations to the camp while Jay and Axel were gone. Lukas had replaced the lean-to shelters with sturdy tents and small huts that could stand independently. A campfire burned merrily in the middle of the camp. A few fish on a spit roasted over the flames.

"Hello? Lukas? Are you there?" Jay asked as he, Axel, and Magnus wandered into the camp.

"Mmph-hoozere?" a voice from within a tree answered. Confused, Jay looked up and saw Lukas nestled in its branches. Lukas was struggling to string a piece of gut on a long stick; he was making a homemade bow. He held two handmade arrows in his mouth as he worked.

"Lukas, it's Jay and Axel. We're back from Fragor. We brought King Magnus."

Lukas managed to string the bow, then transferred the arrows to his free hand. "Splendid! I think. Is that supposed to help us defeat the Deurodragon?"

"I hope." Jay shrugged. "Uhh...why are you making a bow?"

Lukas didn't answer, but instead he slipped an arrow on the bow and took aim in Jay's direction.

"Hey! What the…" Jay dodged out of the way, thinking that Lukas was about to shoot him for literally no reason. But then he heard an animal growl behind him. The wolf almost pounced on Jay when Lukas quickly shot both arrows at it, killing it. The canid flopped to the ground at Jay's feet.

"Wow!" Jay exclaimed. "Good shot, Lukas."

"Thanks." Lukas climbed down from his perch in the tree. "To be honest, I was not expecting that to work."

"Are you sure it's dead?" Axel stared warily at the dead wolf.

Lukas drew his dagger from his belt. "Want me to make sure?"

"Oh, no, that's not really necessary." Jay didn't like the sight of blood. "I'm sure it's dead."

"I dislike killing animals, but nature is harsh." Lukas put the dagger back away. "Sometimes you have to kill for food and protection. Did you fellows see that I caught some fish?"

"Show-off," Axel muttered.

"Is Olivia back from Murex yet?" Jay asked, to change the subject before Axel started being mean to Lukas again.

Lukas shook his head. "No. She's still away. I hope she is all right. She refused to let me come with her to help."

"Oh, dear." Jay ran his hand through his hair.

"But while you were gone, someone else came back."

Jay perked up, surprised. "Wait...who was it?"

One of the tents stirred, and out walked none other than Petra. Her armor was battered and she had some scratches on her face, but other than that, she was just fine. Reuben wouldn't stray from her side. Jay, for some reason, felt his heart leap at the sight of her. He would have immediately rushed over to talk to her, but Axel shoved him aside and captured Petra in a big hug.

"Whoa!" she gasped. Axel was strong enough to lift her right off the ground.

"All right...All right...it's good to see you too, Axel." Petra patted him on the back. "Put me down, please."

Axel set her down again. Jay wondered why he was so excited. Did he _like_ Petra or something?

"It's a good thing that I'm wearing armor," Petra said. "Had I not been, you might have crushed my ribs!"

"I...I can't believe it, Petra," said Jay. "How did you escape from the Deurodragon? We all thought it killed you!"

"It wasn't easy. I barely escaped with my life. Once I got away from the dragon, I ran and ran and ran for this place. Somehow, I could sense you were here."

"What about Gabriel? Did he make it, too?"

Petra sighed. "I don't know. I am very sorry, Jay, but I don't know if he got away as well. I never saw him escape."

Jay sat on a rock. "I hope he did escape, though. Or at least that he's still alive somewhere. Olivia holds on to the hope that he's still alive. I think that's why she was so intent on going back to find Queen Ellegaard."

"She fears that she has lost one parent. She refuses to lose the other." Petra undid the straps on her armor and shucked it off. Underneath it, she wore a plain tunic and trousers.

Jay nodded, but he didn't say anything. He, Petra and Reuben joined the others as they sat around the campfire. Lukas cut up the fish he'd cooked and passed the pieces around to the others. Axel begrudgingly took some; he sniffed the fish suspiciously.

"Do you think I poisoned it?" Lukas asked, rolling his eyes.

Axel shrugged. "You still seem shifty to me."

"Fine. Watch this." Lukas ate his share of the fish, then looked straight at Axel. "There. Not poisoned."

They were quiet after that. The fish wasn't filling, but it quieted Jay's grumbling stomach and Axel's grumbling mouth. Once they'd all eaten, they threw the bones in the fire and watched the flames burn them to charcoal.

"The Deurodragon is in Fragor," Jay said after a long silence. "Magnus, Axel, and I had to flee there for our lives. I did what Gabriel asked me to do. But now what?"

There were shrugs and murmured "I don't know"s all around the campfire. Everyone just gazed wistfully into the fire. Magnus absentmindedly broke up some sticks and threw the pieces into the embers. Axel nibbled on the end of a fish bone. Lukas picked at the grass, pulling out grass blades and putting knots in them. Jay rubbed his battered feet.

"Why do you gentlemen sit around and mope like this?" a very proper young voice asked. Everyone turned to see Olivia and Ellegaard approaching the camp. And everyone was surprised at the sight.

"Heavens! We thought you wouldn't make it," Lukas said. "And you found the queen, too!"

"That's right. I did." Olivia made no attempt to hide her pride. "See, I'm not as weak as you think I am."

"Where was she?" Jay asked. "How did you keep away from the Deurodragon?"

"The dragon had moved on from Murex by the time I went back for my mother," Olivia said. "I don't know where the beast went, but that it was not my problem, so I was just glad that it was gone. The queen was hiding in the rubble of the castle. It was a struggle to get in and out of Murex. The place has been leveled."

She sat down by the fire, looking very sad all of a sudden.

"Is something wrong, my lady?" Axel inquired. "Are you hurt?"

"My heart hurts," Olivia replied, her eyes shiny. "When I saw the rubble of my father's kingdom, I almost cried. The castle, my home, is a pile of bricks and glass shards. And I did cry when I saw the corpses in the streets. That beast has taken so much from us."

Jay looked down at his feet and was quiet. As Olivia told her story, he regretted how he'd acted toward her in the past. Sure, she was a bit arrogant, but it was unfair to think of her as a spoiled brat by now. She'd lost her home, her people, and probably her father as well. Jay kicked a rock, angry at himself for being insensitive. It stubbed his toe, but he didn't care.

While Jay wallowed in self-loathing, Queen Ellegaard did a once-over of the ragtag group gathered about the fire. She reacted minimally to Jay the scruff, Lukas the gypsy, Reuben the little boy, Petra the soldier, and Axel the servant, but when she laid eyes on Magnus...Jay could almost see steam shoot out of her ears.

"What...is... _he_..doing here?" the queen growled. She glared at the various people around the fire, trying to figure out who had brought Magnus to the camp.

"Beg pardon?" Jay didn't know why she was upset.

"Whose idea was it to bring that... _ruffian_...here?" Ellegaard glared at Magnus.

Jay bit his lip, terrified of what Ellegaard might do to him if he told her the truth.

"Ugh!" Magnus sprung up from his seat. "And just when I thought I'd be rid of your witch face for good, too. I knew it was too much to hope that Jay couldn't find you."

"Witch face?!" Ellegaard fumed. "How about your big bald head?"

"At least not having hair means I don't look like I have a rat's nest on my head!"

"Rats don't need to nest in your hair. They already nest everywhere in your fetid castle and your disease-ridden kingdom."

"Oh, so? The king of Fragor doesn't axe off people's heads for doing parlor tricks. I'm not paranoid like your husband is!"

"You won't say a word about my husband, you imp! You can't even get yourself a queen. You're so witless and charmless that you couldn't convince a she-orc to be your wife."

"Well, I guess that Gabriel knows how to convince one, then, because look at what he married!"

"You mud-eating, slime-skinned imp!"

Jay watched the argument with his mouth agape. He couldn't believe that two adults, and two _royal_ adults at that, could be having such a childish quarrel. Olivia was so embarrassed that she hid her face in her fluffy dress sleeves. Axel watched the verbal skirmish with wonder and amusement.

"You have to admit, that's pretty funny," he said to Jay.

"It's not funny, Axel!" Jay growled. "I hope Gabriel knew what he was doing, because I definitely don't! Magnus and Ellegaard hate each other! How am I going to reunite the Order of the Royals when _this_ tripe is happening?"

He gestured furiously at the arguing royals, By this point, they'd stormed up to each other and stood inches apart as they quarreled. Both their faces were bright red, and they looked seconds away from resorting to physical violence.

"That's enough!" Jay yelled over their bickering. "Stop fighting."

Ellegaard was in the middle of a tirade about Magnus's "uncouthness"; she paused it to glare at Jay. "Stay out of this, peasant!"

"No, I will not stay out of this, and you should probably listen to this peasant for once." Jay stood his ground. "Because this peasant has something important to say."

The audacity of his response was enough to diffuse the fight for a second. Both Magnus and Ellegaard looked in shock at the plucky peasant who just told them what was what. Now that he had their attention, Jay continued his speech.

"Now is most certainly not the time to be arguing over such stupid things as Magnus's bald head or Ellegaard's witch face. Whatever a witch face is, anyway. How can you two stand here and argue about tripe like that when there is a Deurodragon hellbent on destroying the world? Gabriel told me to seek out Magnus, and so I did. That's why I brought him here, Ellegaard, and for the time being, bother if that upsets you. We have to reunite the Order of the Royals if we want to stand a chance of defeating the Deurodragon. But we can't do that if we make enemies out of each other in the meantime! Therefore...we will work together if it kills us! Because it probably will!"

Jay punctuated the end of his rant by plunking down next to the fire. He crossed his arms and let out a big, huffy breath. Magnus and Ellegaard stood frozen. They were stunned from being spoken to so audaciously, and yet so pointedly, by a peasant. Without another word spoken, they stepped away from each other and sat back down.

"So," Jay said, teeth gritted, "do either of you know what we should do next?"

"Did Gabriel tell you what to do after you found me?" Magnus asked.

"I don't remember, but probably not," Jay said. "I think I was supposed to reunite the Order of the Royals. But Gabriel is probably dead and I don't remember who the fourth person in the Order is…"

"The fourth member was Soren," Ellegaard jumped in. "His claim to royal blood was that he was the fourth son of King Cassius of Coraza to the southwest. He had no heritage to the throne, so he had to seek out recognition elsewhere. So he joined our order."

"So what happened to him?" Jay broke a stick in half and threw the pieces in the fire. "You make it sound as if he is dead."

"When the Order of the Royals became estranged, Soren went off on his own," said Ellegaard. "No-one has seen him since. There are rumors that his soul became so lonely that he melted into the mist one evening, never to be seen again."

"But those are only rumors. And we still have the compass. I could find him," Jay insisted. He rummaged through his pockets for the compass. He rummaged...and rummaged...and rummaged…

"What's the holdup?" someone asked.

"Oh, no." Jay looked up in fright at the others. "I...I think I dropped the compass when we were running away from Murex."

The others gasped.

"Idiot boy!" Magnus growled. "Did Gabriel not tell you to guard it with your life?"

"It was an accident," Jay said, grimacing.

"Well, your _accident_ leaves all our plans for naught. How can we find Soren without the compass to lead us? Idiot."

"Now you hold on a minute." Ellegaard rose from her seat and confronted Magnus. Somehow, she saw it fit to defend Jay from him. It was most likely because she was still angry at Magnus.

Magnus tipped his chin up and sniffed, as if a repulsive bug had just crawled towards him.

"We can still find Soren without the compass," Ellegaard said. "I have an idea as to where Soren might be. He hinted at it to me before he left the Order."

"Oh, is that so? Of course he would tell you a secret like that. You two always insisted you were the brightest ones in the group."

"Pish-posh!" Ellegaard scoffed. "That doesn't matter now. Soren said he wanted to go someplace where he could devote all his time to studying. He wanted to learn as much as he could with the years he had left."

"Old dodger," Magnus muttered under his breath. "Wasting good time by reading dusty scrolls."

"So what are you saying by this?" Olivia asked. "Would Soren have gone someplace quiet and secluded?"

"Yes, he would." Ellegaard smiled proudly at her daughter. "Excellent thinking. Now I remember, from our travels, one place in particular that Soren loved and wanted to return to someday. It was a garden grove were crystals grew like trees. It was a rare wonder."

"A garden of crystal trees," Jay mused. "It sounds beautiful."

"And so it was," the queen said. "As if it was a place where fairies gathered or angels rested. The mysterious and magical always intrigued Soren. He was drawn to such a place, and I'm certain that is where he has gone."

"In that case, we should go there." Petra stood up and brushed ash flakes off her armor. "That is our best lead."

"I think the whole group should come," Jay said. "We will be safer if we remain in one group. There's no reason to stay at the camp anymore. Reuben, will you come here, please?"

The pink-haired boy left Petra's side and went to Jay's instead. Jay put his arm around Reuben protectively.

"I think Ellegaard should lead the way," Petra said, "if she knows where this crystal garden is. Will you show us where to go, Your Majesty?"

"I shall, Sir Petra," the queen responded, striding her way to the front of the group. She always walked with a regal gait. Jay noticed that she was still wearing her gem-studded high heels. He shuddered at the sight of the uncomfortable-looking footwear. How could Ellegaard stand to wear those awful shoes?

"Wait," Magnus said before the group could move out. "It's getting dark. We should rest before we leave for Soren's place. Besides, we cannot walk in the dark."

"Why do you think we invented torches?" Ellegaard scoffed.

"You could trip on a rock and twist your ankles in those ridiculous shoes." The king pointed at Ellegaard's ruby-studded high heels. She just rolled her eyes.

"Jay, we have to leave," she said. "If we wait, the Deurodragon could come for us in our sleep."

"And if we don't rest, we'll be too tired to make it halfway there! Not to mention that we can't go anywhere at all when you're too exhausted to give directions."

"It isn't safe to stay here."

"It's more dangerous to leave now."

Jay's hands clenched up into fists. "Both of you be quiet! The last thing I want to hear right now is another argument. We will rest the night, all right?"

"Who made you king?" Ellegaard squinted at him.

"He's a king of good ideas, I'll give him that," Magus snapped his fingers. "Come. The, uh, blond fellow over here made tents for us. Let's put them to use, no?"

Lukas sighed. "My name is Lukas…"

* * *

Jay hoped that a good night's sleep would calm Magnus and Ellegaard's tempers. No-one in the group spoke to each other for their first hour they were awake. They just slipped out of their tents, rubbed the sleep from their eyes, and sat around the campfire to eat the apples Lukas had foraged from the woods. Lukas had a talent for pulling food out of thin air, it seemed. But then again, he was quite skinny and pale, so maybe this was just a lucky few days for him.

Once breakfast had been eaten, the group set off to find Soren. Ellegaard led the pack, with Petra at her heels. Jay followed behind Petra, deep in thought. He stuck his hands in his pockets. He hoped it wouldn't be a long, grueling march to this mystical crystal garden that Ellegaard talked about. The others talked idly to pass the time.

"I remember going to the crystal garden," Magnus said to Jay as they walked.

"What did you think of it?" Jay asked.

"It seemed like as good a place as any. I don't quite understand what Ellegaard and Soren thought was so great about it, though."

"Well, what did it look like?"

"It was...it was like an open plain, but it had walkways running through it. I think they were made from some kind of shiny stone. And there were trees growing, but they were made out of crystal. Different colors of crystal, too. Being in the garden gave me a strange feeling, like something was off about the place."

"Judging by her description of Soren, he sounds off as well," Jay replied. "So he broke away from the Order to study everything? That doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Half the tripe that Ellie talks about doesn't make sense," Magnus said bitterly. "She thinks herself ever so smart, but all she does is make herself a stranger to everyone."

Jay squinted. "What happened between you two? If you were in the Order of the Royals together, you must have been friends at some point."

"No, we weren't. It was just the situation," Magnus said. He said it too quickly, though, and he wouldn't look Jay in the eye. Now most people could probably tell that he was lying, but Jay wasn't a good reader of people. He let it slide.

They kept up their mundane march until well into the evening. They had only stopped occasionally to rest, so Jay's feet ached. The fields finally let up into a patch of pine forest. Jay was relieved to have respite from the sun beating down on him all day, but then he discovered a new pain.

Pine needles.

The dastardly little pine needles proved to be the bane of the barefoot people in the group. Jay, Lukas, and Olivia winced with every step as the needles pricked the soles of their feet. A carpet of the stuff covered the entire forest floor, though, so they had to brave their way through it. Jay thought about what he should say to convince Soren to reunite the Order. Lukas breathed in deeply, trying to let the pleasant pine smell distract him from the pain in his feet. Olivia made plans for funding a shoe reserve for Murex once it was rebuilt.

"It's not that far now," Ellegaard called to the others, trying to encourage them.

"How will we know when we are there?" Petra inquired. "Is this a place we can simply walk into?"

"Not quite," said the queen. "The crystal garden can't be found without going underground first."

"So it's in a cavern?"

"No. It's above the surface."

Petra ran her hand through her hair. "That doesn't make sense. If it's above the surface, why do we have to go underground first?"

"I told you, the crystal garden is a place of myst and magic. It can't be found in the expected way. That's how the group found the garden in the first place; we were hiding underground in the cavern that led to it."

Petra shook her head in confusion.

"Enough, now." Ellegaard pointed to a cropping of odd-colored rocks a bowshot away. "That's the entrance to the caverns. Once we are inside, I hope you will not question me about it any further."

The captain shrugged. "Fine. Very well."

So they went inside the caverns. Jay was expecting the place to be cold, damp, echoey, and dark. None of those expectations were fulfilled. The caverns were snug (but not tight), dry, and well-lit by glowing crystals studding the walls. The air inside was warm and only smelled faintly of pine. It was actually a rather nice place. Jay preferred it to what he had nicknamed the Forest of Pain.

"Look! Glowing crystals!" Olivia said excitedly, pointing at them. "We must be close."

"And so we are," Ellegaard replied. "If we go through his arch cut in the wall, we should find ourselves right where we need to-Oh, dear."

Suddenly the group was standing in a large, echoey room. The natural stone had been cut away to widen the space. One large crystal cluster illuminated the room in a moody blue glow. Directly below it lay a pool of still, glassy water. This must have been a hub room, because three other arch-doors were carved into the other walls.

"Which one goes to where we want to go?" Petra asked, glancing around.

"I forgot," Ellegaard stammered. "And I don't know what to expect if we go through the wrong door."

"Good thinking, Ellie," Magnus mocked. "Now we don't know what to do again."

"I have had enough of you!" she exploded at him suddenly. "It's not as if you do anything at all, either! Figure this out on your own if you know so much."

She stormed away, heading towards the door-arch on her left. Magnus scowled at her, fists clenched.

"Hey! You don't get to walk away from this!" he called after her. "This is your disaster. You are supposed to fix it."

She pretended not to hear him. Magnus growled in anger, whipped around, and went through the arch on his right. Since there was no door to slam, he stomped his feet loudly instead. Jay looked at the rest of the group for help.

"These are the people who are supposed to help save the world from the Deurodragon?"

Lukas pulled off a scarf tied around his wrist and wound it about his fingers. "If so, we should probably pray for mercy."

Jay sighed. "I'll go fetch Ellegaard. Who wants to bring Magnus back here?"

"I can do that!" Axel volunteered, forcing his bulky frame through the little arch that Magnus gone through. Jay shrugged and headed the opposite way. He crossed his arms, wondering why Magnus and Ellegaard were so hostile. They couldn't just hate each other for no reason, right?

His footsteps tapped on the stone floor in the small, dark tunnel. As the light from the hub room faded behind him, he felt the skin on the back of his neck tingle. Like he was being followed or watched.

"I'm just being paranoid," he muttered to himself.

Why did it sound like two people were walking in the tunnel? Ellegaard had too much of a head start to still be in the tunnel, right?

"Just an echo," he told himself. But his voice didn't echo.

Wide-eyed, Jay turned around. A bright light flashed in his face, blinding him for a second. When he could see again, he saw none other than Ivor standing there and scowling. The old man held a wand; the light was coming from its tip. He had used some kind of light spell.

"How did you find us?" Jay demanded, tensing up.

"I used a spell that traced the path you left. Everywhere you step leaves behind a trace of magic. You're saturated with the stuff. It makes you easy for a sorcerer to track."

"Well, bother that!" Jay snapped. "You won't thwart our plans to destroy your Deurodragon. I promise it."

"Small and simple-minded young man, that isn't my goal," said Ivor. "I'm here to warn you that yours is going to fail."

"Why? Because you'll thwart it?"

"No! Because it's doomed to fail. It is impossible to destroy the Deurodragon with the path you're taking."

"What's wrong with this 'path' that we tak-wait. How do you know that I have magic?" Jay squinted at Ivor. "I never told you."

"I can sense it in you," Ivor said. "You have both the powers of sorcery and the powers of magic. Odd, really. Such people are very rare."

"There's no difference between magic and sorcery." Jay rolled his eyes. "Stop talking nonsense, Ivor."

"There is a difference. Magic is inborn, sorcery is learned. But you might have some capability already from a sorcerer parent. Did your father know sorcery, uh, whatever your name is?"

"It's Jaysse," Jay muttered, "and I never knew him."

"Tsk. It's a shame when children don't know who their fathers are. Moral decay and all that. What about your mother?"

Jay pulled at his hair. "You're making me lose time! Stop asking me personal questions. I have to talk to Ellegaard."

"Bother!" Ivor scoffed. "She can't help you. I can. Why don't you listen to me? I can help you understand your magic, since you seemed to be grossly uninformed. And I can give you help to remedy this Deurodragon problem. I blame Gabriel for both of those issues."

"I blame you for this whole mess!" Jay yelled at Ivor. "If you hadn't released that blasted Deurodragon, we wouldn't be dealing with this."

Ivor frowned and tossed his hands up in resignation. "Shunning allies, young man, that's what you are doing."

"Get you gone!" Jay shouted after him as he left. "We don't need your help."

Ivor glanced over his shoulder at Jay. "I fear that soon you will find that you actually do."


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, I made another poll! Go vote on it, please, my loyal readers.**

Another light flashed in the tunnel, but this time, it was warm and orange. Petra ran up to Jay, carrying a torch. A stampede of footsteps behind her told him that the rest of the group had come as well. She looked concerned.

"What happened? I heard shouting," she said, holding the torch high. Jay could see the others' faced illuminated in its light.

"Ivor was here," Jay muttered. "I told him to get lost. He's trying to distract us from our plan."

"There are so many things wrong with that old man," Petra murmured. "Come on, everyone. We need to catch up with Ellegaard before Ivor drops in again to bother us."

There was a shuffle of feet behind her. Jay continued to lead the way. After a couple minutes, the tunnel curved up into a staircase. Petra handed Jay the torch so he could see where he was going while he climbed. At the top of the stairs, there was a small hatch-door in the ceiling.

"I think this is our way out," he said to the others.

"All right!" they called back. "Is it locked?"

He gave it a push. The door lifted slightly, but it was heavy. Jay handed the torch back to Petra; she held it so that he would have some light while he tried to open it.

"No, but it's heavy. Give me a second." Jay pushed on the door harder. This time, he used enough force to knock it backwards and prop it open. Then he crawled out through the hatch and re-entered blissful natural light. Petra was the next one out of the hatch, followed by Olivia, Lukas, Axel, and Magnus. They stood on a small hill that sloped down to a low stone wall. Ellegaard stood by the gate, scratching her chin as she looked up at it.

"Is something wrong?" Jay asked her as he and the others ran down the hill towards her.

"The gate is locked," the queen replied. "I'm trying to see if the key is hung somewhere around here."

"The key would not be left out of the open for anyone to grab," Petra pointed out.

"That is true. But how else are we going to get inside? We have nothing with which to pick the lock."

Jay glanced up at the hefty wooden gate, then over at the stone bricks comprising the walls. _Stone_ bricks. Stone was made of earth. It gave him an idea, and hopefully he would be subtle enough not to reveal his secret. He chimed in with his idea right before Magnus could harass Ellegaard for getting stuck again.

"I could climb the wall and look for a key within the place," he offered.

A bunch of people said things about how the wall was too sheer to climb.

"I can climb walls very well. Let me try this," he insisted.

"Very well," the queen said. "I suppose we have nothing else to try."

So Jay walked up to the wall, made a little jump at it, and gripped the bricks to hold on. He felt a bit of magic pulse out from his fingers and toes. The stone molded slightly around his hands and feet, giving him a solid hold on the wall. Using this, he climbed the wall as if it was made of jelly. He vaulted over the top and landed softly in some flower bushes on the other side.

"Made it!" he shouted to the others. "I'm going to go look for that key. Stay safe!"

He wrestled his way out of the flower bush (it was shrubbery of some annoying, viney plant) and started his way into the garden. It really was as pretty as Ellegaard had described. The garden was a plain of rolling hills crosscut by tiled pathways. Crystal trees stood in an erratic pattern over the hills. They came in different pastel colors and sparkled in the sunlight. The air seemed thicker and sweeter in the garden; it smelled like tea and cedarwood.

As he wandered further into the garden, he started to see signs of habitation. A clinking sound rang in the air, coming from wind chimes and strings of shells tied to the tree branches. Some standing stones and wood statues were scattered about. Every one of them had writing on it; sometimes it was in hieroglyphics, sometimes it was rune symbols, occasionally it was Greek lettering, and still others had script that Jay could actually read. Jay picked up one of the latter and studied the text on it.

"'At long last, I have accomplished one of my prioritized goals,'" he mused, reading it aloud. "'After performing the rite of passage and proving that I was of pure heart, I do believe that they now accept me as one of their own. Finally I can approach them and study them more closely. Eureka! Once I have recorded my findings, I ought to celebrate with some rest. I have not slept for a week at this point.'"

Jay set the statue down. It was a carving of a horse rearing, but out of its forehead grew a long, slightly curving horn. Unicorn. Assuming that Soren was the one writing, were unicorns the creatures he had made this record about? But Jay saw no creatures wandering about. The garden seemed empty. He continued on his way.

In a grove of blue crystal trees, Jay found another gaggle of statues. Standing in a semicircle were the likenesses of Catholic saints and Egyptian deities. Quite a juxtaposition! Jay wondered why they were here. But most of all, he wondered where Soren was hiding in this garden.

He left the statues behind and went to look in another area of the garden. This time, he found a shelf of scrolls propped up against a thick tree. A tiny table stood in front of it, with a scroll unrolled atop it. Jay went to investigate, but once again, he couldn't read the offering. The scroll was in Hebrew. He rolled it up and placed it on the shelf. Out of curiosity, he checked a few of the other scrolls. They were also in Hebrew. And they were no clue to Soren's whereabouts.

"Cultured, but annoying," Jay said of Soren. "Wherever could he be?"

All throughout this time, Jay had been unaware of soft feet sneaking up on him. Turning away from the shelf of scrolls, he was suddenly face-to-face with a creature no bigger than a housecat. It had a round body made of clay, no mouth, and big yellow eyes. It used its two long arms to pull itself along on the ground.

"What are you?" he asked the creature. "Wait, you're a goblin, aren't you?"

The creature scowled, offended to have been called a goblin, and did a thumbs-down at Jay.

"Oh! Right!" He covered his mouth. "I knew that wasn't right. I meant to say _golem_. You're a golem, right?"

The critter's eyes got shiny and it gave Jay a thumbs-up.

"Splendid! Where is Soren?"

The golem gave Jay a funny look and shook its head (which was its whole body.)

"Can you even talk?"

Thumbs down.

"I should only ask yes or no questions?"

Thumbs up.

"Very well. Do you know Soren?"

Thumbs up.

"Are you the only magic creature here?"

Thumbs down.

"Do you know where Soren is?"

Thumbs down.

"Drat. Is there a magic creature here who might know, then?"

Thumbs up.

"Can you show me where they might be?"

Thumbs up, but then the golem looked surprised and pointed at something behind Jay. Jay turned to see what it was. He turned just in time to see an elf backhanding him. He was on the ground and slipping out of consciousness in a second.

He'd be seeing Soren soon enough.

* * *

Jay groaned and put a hand to his throbbing skull as he came to. Elves packed a mighty punch, apparently. At the moment, all he could tell was that he was lying on his side in a warm room. He didn't sit up, preferring to let his senses return to him first. He could see that the room was small and wood-paneled. A woolen rug covered the floor. The room smelled like jasmine and lemon, and someone played soft music on a lute guitar. Jay sat up, rubbing his forehead.

"I apologize for the violence," an unfamiliar voice said. "I really do. But elves deal in absolutes, you see."

Jay was still too disoriented to talk. He rubbed the spot where he'd been backhanded and glanced around the room. Strange symbols were drawn on the walls: crosses, linked circles, anarchy symbols, hand lines, stick people, and hundreds of other shapes. An assortment of odd objects hung from strings tied to the ceiling beams. They gave Jay an unsettled feeling.

"Excuse me, but I'm over here," said the unfamiliar voice. "I'm talking to you?"

Jay looked over at the source of the voice. A middle-aged man sat cross-legged a pace or two away from Jay. He had wide, curious eyes and a ginger beard that needed trimming. He wore a dwarven chestplate over his shirt, elven chainmail leggings, and what looked like a silk sarong over it all. The man's habitat, house, and even his clothes were an amalgamate of various cultures and races. This had to be Soren.

"Are you Soren?" Jay asked, figuring it as good a time as any to inquire.

The man heaved out a heavy, dramatic sigh. "Why, yes. Soren I am and I suppose that Soren I ever will be. But must I be Soren? On many a day I would rather be anyone or anything but Soren. Oh, like a unicorn, for instance. Unicorns are delightful, are they not?"

"Um...Yes…" Jay faltered. He got the answer to his question, but now he was more confused than before.

"Why are you here, young man? Oh! I know. You're here to share in my studies. I have devoted the rest of my years to learning as much as I can, and you are now joining me. We could be like monks of knowledge! Ah!"

"What?" Jay shook his head, trying to follow what Soren was saying. "Uh, no. I'm sorry, but that is not why I'm here. I came to ask for help."

"In that case, you have come to the correct source, Bastion! I know many things about many things, and I would bet a stash of gold (err, were I to have a stash of gold, that is) that I could solve your problem."

"Why did you call me Bastion?"

"You look like a Bastion to me."

Jay held back an exasperated sigh. "My name is Jay. Do not call me by a name that isn't mine."

"What kind of fool name is Jay? Who names their child after a bird? Is that an implication that the child should be flighty? Or weak-minded, perhaps? But those are not good qualities for a child to have. Children should think."

"It's not really that important. My name is a long story, and we don't have time for long stories right now."

"Rot!" Soren slammed his fist into the floor. "Long stories are what enrich life itself. I devoted myself to studying them. Tell me immediately."

Through gritted teeth, Jay said, "The name Jay is short for Jaysse. In turn, Jaysse is a variation of the name Jesse. Since you have Hebrew scrolls out in your garden for some reason, I would assume then that you'd know the name Jesse means 'gift.' Now can we _please_ discuss what I came here to talk about? I feel like we are egregiously wasting time here."

"What is time wasted to one man is time well spent to another," Soren countered. "I know that many would say that I have wasted my time by hiding in the Crystal Garden and reading scrolls and making friends with magical creatures, but to that I say I have spent the years well. I do not feel shut out from the world, Jesse the Gift. Rather, I learn from it. Every corner of this old earth possesses a wealth of knowledge. I have learned from the Greeks and the English and the Christians and the Hindus and the Mesopotamians and the Chinese and the Nordics and more. And the more you know, the more powerful you become. Thoughts and mindsets win wars as much as weapons do."

Jay had to tune out Soren at one point and try to figure out what the man was saying. Soren had an annoying habit of talking too quickly and too quietly. He made strange hand gestures, and he seemed to speak with ten accents at once. He was a living information overload. Jay tried to cut off Soren's philosophical speeches by getting to the point of his visit.

"In all of your studies, perhaps you have the answer to a dire problem?" Jay asked. "I want your help to reunite the Order of the Royals."

When Jay mentioned that, Soren's pontificate fell flat. He looked at Jay, his wide eyes even bigger with surprise.

"Reunite the Order?" he stammred. "But we have been asunder for years. Surely it would take too long to bring us together again…"

"Ellegaard and Magnus are outside your crystal garden as we speak," Jay said, gesturing behind him. "In fact, they are probably getting impatient by now. They think that I am getting a key to open the gates, and they are surely wondering why on earth it's taking me so long to obtain a mere key. You don't suppose you could help me with that, do you?"

"Oh, dear. Um...if what you say is true, uh, I can open the gate from the inside, yes. But why must we reunite the Order of the Royals? Is the world in danger again?"

"Very much so!" Jay blurted. "A warlock conjured up a Deurodragon bent on destroying the world. It's dreadful! We must destroy it before it destroys everything else."

Soren suddenly seemed very uncomfortable at the mention of the Deurodragon. A bit of sweat beaded up on his forehead, and he glanced off to the side. He put on a nervous smile and twiddled his thumbs.

"And one more thing." Jay glared. "Who is playing that confounded lute? They just won't let up."

"No-one is playing it, youngster." Soren held back a chuckle. "Look over at it for a minute."

So Jay did that. He yelped when he saw that the _lute played by itself._ The guitar strings snapped as if plucked by an invisible hand. The air around the lute sparkled as it was played, suggesting magic.

"You have a magic lute that plays by itself?" Eh, he probably shouldn't have been surprised by that at this point. "Where did you get that?"

"That is a gift of elven magic. The elves gave it to me as a gesture of friendship." Soren smiled with pride. "It took years of camaraderie to be considered worthy of a present such as it. Splendid, is it not?"

"Um, sure." Jay tried to get them on subject again. "The Order of the Royals will best know how to defeat the Deurodragon. That is why we need your help. You had best listen."

"How do I know that you are not just spouting stuff and nonsense?" Soren challenged. He didn't seem to like having his status quo rocked.

"I can take you outside the gates. Magnus and Ellegaard are right there. But if that's not proof enough, we can wait here and do nothing (as you seem wont to do) until the Deurodragon comes and you can see it for yourself. But I'm not sure if you want to take that latter route, do you now?" Jay's patient facade was breaking down. He had done well thus far, but Soren's fleeting attention span was grating on him.

"Oh, fine!" Soren threw up his hands in frustration and jumped to his feet. He adjusted his clothes and growled something about "callow youth." Soren walked up to a small bookcase in the corner of the room and whisked a worn green book off the shelf. Tucking it under his arm, he rejoined Jay.

He nodded at Jay. "All right. But before we go, there is one thing left to do."

"Which would be?"

"A small gift."

"A gift?"

"Yes, a gift. The gift...of song!"

Jay looked horrified. " _Kyrie eleison_. No. Do not sing."

Soren whistled and clapped his hands at the lute guitar. It stood bolt upright, as if snapping to attention. It stopped playing the easy, simple tune it had been plunking out earlier. Instead, it struck up an energetic, catchy melody that was sure to get stuck in Jay's head for days to come.

"Oh, no." Jay hid his face in his hands.

" _Do re mi fa so la ti do,"_ Soren crooned to get his voice in tune. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and-

Got interrupted by Lukas suddenly running into the room. Lukas. Of all people. Even the lute guitar was surprised; it fell silent and flopped anticlimactically on the floor.

"G'ragh!" Soren growled, irritated that he didn't get to sing.

"I'm sorry for intruding!" Lukas stammered. "It's just that you have been gone for more than an hour now, and we were getting worried. I thought you were getting a key, Jay, and...hey, is that Soren?"

"Who is this blond bairn?" Soren made a grand gesture at Lukas. "He interrupted a perfectly good musical opportunity."

"That's my friend Lukas," Jay explained. "I'm sorry, Lukas. I was waylaid while looking for the key. Wait...how did you get in here without the key to unlock the gate?"

Lukas brushed some blond hair out of his face. "I climbed the wall. After several failed attempts."

It was then that Jay noticed some bruises on Lukas's torso and arms that hadn't been there before. He must have fallen off the wall. Poor fellow.

"Ahem. May we be on our way now?" asked Jay. "Do you have the key to open the gates so we can leave?"

"Aren't you in a precious hurry?" Soren sneered. "Yes, I have the keys. Will you allow me one minute to retrieve them before you melt from being forced to wait a short while?"

"Hey!" Jay said, but Soren ignored him to cross to the other side of the room. There he bent down, opened up a wooden chest, and rifled through its contents. He returned holding an improbably large brass key. He bopped Jay upside the head with it.

"Ow." Jay's head was still sore from getting whacked by Magnus's staff.

"Let us go, then!" Soren led the way out of his cottage and into the garden. Lukas couldn't get enough of the sparkling crystal trees. He stared with wonder at the lovely scenery.

"Ah! I can see why Soren wanted to live here," he said to Jay. "What a great place."

"Uh, sure, it's good," Jay replied. He hadn't been paying much attention to Lukas, as he had been too busy thinking about the Order of the Royals and how they were supposed to help defeat the Deurodragon. Soren seemed to have a plan, but he was keeping it to himself.

But before they went to the gates to leave the garden, Soren took a detour and led them into a small clearing. It was sealed off by a circle of pink crystal trees. He brought the boys into the center of the clearing.

"So here we are," Soren said. "Before we go, we should have faster transportation that your filthy bare feet."

"I'm not sure I follow," Jay said. "Why are we standing in a clearing?"

"You will see!" Soren brushed his hands together. "All right, which of you two is more pure?"

"Huh?" both Lukas and Jay asked.

"Neither of you are married? You are both bachelors?" Soren asked them.

"Erm...yes…" both boys answered.

"I don't understand," Jay complained. "How is asking us about our marital status supposed to fetch us transportation? You are not making any sense right now. At least explain your plan."

"Oh, for the love of all things good!" Soren sighed. "I'm fetching us a blessing of unicorns to ride, you cabbage heads. I have their trust, but not their favor. You can help me with that. A unicorn is always won over by the love of a maiden. But eh, male virgins should work as well. So which one of you is purer of heart?"

Jay and Lukas pointed at each other at the same time. They hadn't expected that, and they looked at each other incredulously.

"You are much kinder than I," Jay said. "I feel a bit rude lately."

"You must be joking," Lukas replied. "If I had a gold coin for every time I've been called immodest, I wouldn't have to dance and play a flute on the streets for a living."

"There's a difference between being called immodest and actually being it."

"I'm certain the unicorn would like you better. You seem purer."

"No, that would be you."

"Ugh, bother it," Soren said after they went back and forth like that for several minutes. "Let the unicorns come to both of you. How many are in your party?"

Jay counted them off on his fingers. "Eight, not including you."

"Well, two people can ride a unicorn at once. Maybe three, if the passengers are lightweight enough. They prefer one passenger per unicorn, but we may need to make an exception. So we should hope that you can attract four unicorns, no?"

"Sure. Let us go with that." Jay scanned the area, not seeing any unicorns. "Should they have come by now?"

"Work harder to attract them," Soren insisted.

"How?"

"I don't know. Sing a nice song or pick flowers or whatnot. Do something pure and pretty."

Jay rolled his eyes and plucked a yellow flower from the grass. Lukas followed his lead and picked a blue flower.

"She loves me, she loves me not," Jay droned as he pulled the petals off the flower.

Not long thereafter, they heard light, delicate hooves thumping on the grass. Jay, Lukas, and Soren looked up to see four unicorns trotting up to them! They had grullo coats and purple manes. Each one had a silver, slightly curving horn protruding from their forehead.

"Splendid! Well done, boys," Soren applauded. "You've done it. They will help us on our journey."

So they took the unicorns and went to the gates. After Soren unlocked them, they brought the mystic horses to the rest of the group. Everyone was surprised to see them, figuring that unicorns were either not real or extinct. They decided who would go with whom and then swung up onto the backs of the unicorns. Jay, Petra, and Reuben shared a unicorn; Axel and Olivia went on another; Lukas and Ellegaard on a third; and Magnus and Soren took the last one.

It wasn't for a while after setting off on the next phase of their journey that Jay thought to ask Soren what his plan was. He'd been distracted by unicorn wrangling.

"So, uh, I hope you have a plan," Jay said to Soren. "I don't want to go back to Fragor and face the Deurodragon without knowing what we should do."

"Stuff and nonsense! I've thought about it for a long time," Soren scoffed. "That's why I brought my spellbook."

"You know magic?"

"Well, I think I could try using sorcery to do the trick. It doesn't run in my family...but I can try, right?"

That didn't help to abate Jay's anxiety.

"Please tell me that you at least have an idea of what you want to try. We aren't going to face the Deurodragon without a plan."

"Obviously!" Soren sneered. "You think I wouldn't make a plan? All greats make plans. My idea is to fight fire with fire."

Jay glanced at him in confusion. "Um...What is that supposed to mean?"

"Simple. I can turn you into a dragon so you can face a Deurodragon."

Jay almost fell off the unicorn.


	10. Chapter 10

**So sorry for the wait! Major writer's block.**

"You want to turn me into a dragon." Jay stared at him. "You can't be serious."

"I am serious!" Soren insisted. "How can you think that it isn't possible when you're riding on a unicorn?"

Jay huffed out a sharp breath. "Touche. But how do you plan on turning me into a dragon? Can you be certain that your plan will work? And why me? Why not someone else?"

"Eh, caveat emptor," Soren said breezily. "You were the first one to visit me and bother me, so therefore I chose you to do it. It was really more on a whim than anything else."

Jay looked unimpressed. "A valiant try, Soren, but I know Latin. Caveat emptor means 'let the buyer beware.' It doesn't have anything to do with turning people into dragons."

Soren grunted. "Of all the cheek...How could a dirty gamin know Latin? You look like you haven't had a day of schooling in your life."

"My mother taught it to me," Jay said, tipping up his chin. "She knows Latin because she's a sorceress."

He said that last part more quietly, in case Olivia or Ellegaard was listening. Mustn't reveal his family's secret. Soren reacted minimally to that bit of information, instead getting huffier than he already was.

"Well. I would think that if your own mother can perform sorcery, you would believe me that a spell exists to turn people into dragons. Do you not have any faith in me at all?"

"I don't have any faith in your ability," Jay said bluntly. That was Jay's thing. He wasn't a rude person intentionally, but he did speak his mind and in no softening terms.

Soren sniffed. "We shall see how long you'll doubt me."

The unicorns knew how to get out of the crystal gardens without having to go back through the caves. It was part of the mystery of the place and its inhabitants. Unlike regular horses, they were ever calm and perseverant, trotting along where they were guided without a care. The trip through the pine forest was much less of a bother this time around, now that the group was no longer on foot. They urged the unicorns to run across the fields, clearing the distance in record time. A cloudy sky hung overhead, dimming the sun. Jay wondered if it was going to rain.

But when they got back to their forest-edge camp, Jay had bigger things to think about. Because once they all dismounted their unicorns, a returning figure stepped out of a tent to greet them.

"Gabriel!" Ellegaard exclaimed, and ran over to embrace her husband.

Olivia was close at her heels. "Father!"

Jay stared dumbfounded at the reunited royal family. Everyone's spirits lifted at the sight of Gabriel, except his. He knew he was supposed to be glad that the king had escaped the Deurodragon's clutches, but in reality, he just felt more stressed. If Gabriel was here, how could Soren move forward with his plan? Even though Murex was in tatters, Gabriel was still very much its king, and it was anyone's guess whether or not he'd make an exception to his laws against magic. Soren couldn't just cast a spell of sorcery and change Jay right in front of Gabriel, could he? And how does someone not notice a boy turned dragon?

"Hey." Petra snapped her fingers in front of Jay's face, pulling him into the here and now. "What are you zoning out about? Look alive, Jay! Gabriel made it back to us!"

"Sorry," Jay said absently.

"...Once I made my escape from the lair of that foul beast, I ran with great haste to find you," Gabriel explained to his family and the others. "Much to my gratitude, you left a distinctive path in which I followed. The travail was long, but greatly worth it. I only wish that we had a way to contend with that magical abomination...and to capture the one who set it…"

That reminded Jay of his encounter with Ivor. What scheme could the old man be cooking up now? He supposed it didn't matter for the moment. Hopefully he and the others could stop the Deurodragon before Ivor meddled in their plans again.

Petra came up behind him and tapped on his shoulder. "Jay. I need to talk to you."

Jay glanced back and forth nervously. "About what?"

"It's...it's...it's difficult," she said. "I need to talk to you privately. Let's get out of earshot of the others."

She didn't give him the chance to decline. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him behind a tent. While Jay watched in concern, Petra undid the straps for the bracers on her left arm. He recoiled in horror at the sight. The skin on Petra's arm had turned sickly purple. Scabs and oozing lesions marred her skin. She'd been able to cover it up with her armor plate, but it was clearly working its way up her arm and would soon spread to the rest of her body.

"What...happened?" Jay gasped, trying not to say it too loudly.

"I didn't want to worry you earlier," Petra whispered, "but now I can't ignore it. It's getting worse."

"What is it?"

"I got away from the Deurodragon, but not before it could bite me. Its spit must be poisonous. I've been feeling sick since we left to find Soren, but I didn't want to say anything. It might have held the group back."

"You should have said something!" Jay hissed. "What if that's something you can die from?"

"We'll all die if we don't do anything about that damn dragon!" Petra retorted. "I needed to tell someone, and you seem like the type who can keep a secret. So don't tell anyone. I'll figure out a way to fix this."

"Ugh. Petra." Jay rubbed his hands over his face and dirty hair. "Now I have something else to worry about. This is a fine mess. Soren's plan had better work, or I'm going to kill him before the dragon ever gets a chance to."

"What's his plan?" Petra slapped her armor plate back on.

"He says he's going to turn me into a dragon so I can fight the Deurodragon. It's his plan, not mine."

Petra facepalmed. "What kind of an idiot plan is that? How would he even do that?"

"He says he knows sorcery."

"He says a lot of stupid things, Jay!"

"I don't know what else to do!" Jay exploded at her. "Why don't you make the plans, then?"

Petra blinked, taken aback by his outburst. Then she cleared her throat and stood up straighter.

"Never mind. We had best be on the move, anyway." She hurried off to talk to someone else (probably Gabriel.) Jay frowned as he watched her leave. She didn't like the way the conversation had gone, so she had just wormed out of it. What kind of a captain avoids problems like that?

"Come along, everyone!" Soren called. "We must go to strike down the Deurodragon for good! We cannot waste another minute!"

"But we just got here," Axel complained.

His protests were ignored, and everyone hurried to pack up the wherewithal they would need. It didn't take them very long to pack up the camp, seeing as though they had hardly brought anything to begin with. Then they mounted the unicorns again and set off towards Fragor. Since that was where they had last seen the Deurodragon, it seemed logical to return to that general area. For all its power, the dragon moved rather slowly.

Jay let out a low whistle when he saw the gates of Fragor come into view. Actually, they didn't come into view. That was because the gates of Fragor no longer existed. The part of them that still remained that been torn apart, and what lay beyond them was no improvement. Huge craters, most of them still smoldering, pockmarked the entire area, leveling buildings and streets. A thick cloud of smoke lingered in the air. Jay nervously led the group into the midst of Fragor. The impish laughter from the Fragorians had rubbed him the wrong way when they were here earlier, but now, its absence was even more disturbing.

A short distance away, the Deurodragon still loomed like a colossal dark cloud in the sky. It lazily blew its rainbow-colored fire over what little remained of Fragor. It had its back turned and the group, so it didn't notice their approach. Those who hadn't seen the dragon yet, or not much of the dragon, whistled as they saw it in its full form.

"That's something," Lukas murmured.

"Well, this seems to be the opportune time," said Soren, and he hopped off the unicorn. "We ought to do this before that...monstrosity...sees us. Jay, do come over here."

Jay sighed and slipped out of the saddle. Soren smiled at him and thumbed through the book. Jay glanced nervously at Gabriel, who didn't seem to put two and two together that sorcery was about to happen.

Soren flipped open his spellbook and started reading the enchantment. It was one fast-acting spell. Immediately, orange light trails sprang out from its pages and wrapped around Jay. He saw Gabriel looking horrified at Soren and felt a drop in his gut, but it was the last thing he saw before the light engulfed him. He couldn't see, hear, speak, or move. His body felt like it had turned into liquid, and time seemed to slow down. He could have been in transformation for two minutes or two hours-he wouldn't have been able to tell. At last, the light faded away.

With the transformation complete, Jay stood no longer as a boy but as a dragon. He wasn't a big dragon, but that was to his advantage nonetheless. Small, skinny dragons are more maneuverable. His scales were light gray, and a mane of brown hair spilled over his long, flexible neck. But he still had his signature bright green eyes. He opened up his mouth to ask his friends how he looked, but a gurgly sound came out instead of words.

"You cannot speak while you're in dragon form," Soren told him.

"Soren! What is the meaning of this? You're using sorcery?" Gabriel couldn't stop staring at his friend with a look of indignation. "How can you do that?"

"Not my fault. It was just another field of study!" Soren defended. He had felt good about himself for successfully casting the spell, but that proved to be a fleeting feeling. He didn't understand why Gabriel was angry.

"Why did you not tell me you planned on using sorcery? Or casting it on an innocent child? What have you done to Jay?"

"Jay volunteered for it," was Soren's excuse.

Jay groaned loudly.

Soren still wouldn't budge. "This is necessary. The way to defeat this dragon is to fight fire with fire. At least, that seems like the best idea right now."

Gabriel sighed and crossed his arms.

Soren turned back to Jay. "Now take care and listen to your instincts."

Soren didn't have to tell Jay that; he figured it out on his own quickly enough. He could feel the dragon's mind melding with his own. A rush of primal thoughts swam through his brain, urging him to look for a den and food and to start amassing his dragon hoard. They told him how to spread his wings and fly, to rule the skies.

"Use your instincts to imagine that the Deurodragon is your rival," Soren advised. "Pretend that it is trying to steal your territory or your mate. Will you allow it to do that?"

Jay roared and spread out his wings, catching air drifts underneath them. He took to the skies, pumping his wings to gain altitude.

"Go, Jay! We'll be right behind you."

Jay flew towards his target. His wings were thin, but good for fast gliding. He sailed across the field of destruction below him, dodging heaps of rubble in his way. He never needed to figure out how to fly. His instincts had taught him in an instant. In all his life, Jay had never enjoyed something so much as flying. The feeling of nothing beneath his feet, the air currents flowing over his wings, the wind blowing through his mane. Glorious! He flew like a silver arrow at the Deurodragon, steeling himself for the battle to come. He wasn't stronger than the monstrosity, but he was faster and hopefully smarter. He had to play a game of matador with this monster to win.

When he got in range, Jay let out a roar to let the Deurodragon know he had arrived. It was a rather lame and quiet roar, not at all the impressive roar of most dragons, but it got the Deurodragon's attention. It twisted around one of its three heads and roared back. Jay shuddered, but forced himself to stay true to his task.

He dipped out of range as the Deurodragon blew a wave of colorful fire at him. Another head lunged down and tried to catch him in its jaws. It almost caught him by the end of his tail. The worst attack, though, was when the third head spit out a gob of flaming saliva at him. Jay ducked out of the way, and the dragon spit splashed onto the ground.

Gross! Jay thought. I hope it doesn't rely on that attack.

As he circled the Deurodragon again, dodging the swipes of its claws and the snapping mouths full of teeth, Jay tried to figure out what he should do. He was far too small to take the beast down by brute strength alone. Why, one wing on the creature was as long as Jay's whole body!

Wait a minute...wing?

Wing!

Aha! I know.

If he could do something to knock the Deurodragon out of the sky, he might be able to pin it down and kill it with his earth magic. He could seal it in a cavern or something and throw a rock spire through its heart. He just needed a way to ground the beast first, and taking out its wings seemed like a great way to go about it. Swooping over its back, he managed to hook his claws into a wing and tear a hole in it. The wing spasmed as the Deurodragon reacted in pain, roaring. Jay dodged to avoid the jet of fire that came blasting at him.

As the Deurodragon turned itself around to attack Jay, its tail came swooping down. Gabriel, Axel, Petra, and all the others were in its warpath.

"Look out!" Jay cried at them, but that only came out as a roar. Most of them jumped out of the way or were missed entirely by the tail. Ellegaard, however, couldn't run away fast enough. The tail struck her square-on.

No! Ellegaard!

Jay had little time to react, though, because he got caught from behind by a plume of rainbow flame. He squawked in pain, his scales burnt from the attack, and spun around to face the Deurodragon. The head that had blasted the fire at him lunged out and tried to catch him in its teeth again. The second head opened its mouth wide, ready to shoot out more flame.

Jay was ready, too, though. Something within his chest glowed and his throat heated up, and he answered the Deurodragon's rainbow flames with his own green flame. The two fire jets smashed together and sent pillows of smoke into the air.

Green flame? Why green?

For a good few minutes they held the attack, neither able to over the other, until the Deurodragon got out of breath and let up. Jay was panting, too; having to stay aloft was wearing him out. His shoulder muscles burned from pumping his wings.

The third head cranked open its jaw and flicked out its tongue, getting ready to shoot another gob of that appalling dragon spit. Jay darted out of range and undercut the Deurodragon, missing the attack by a long shot.

The plan was working actually pretty well. For all its strength, the Deurodragon was slow and clumsy. Sure, this was basically David and Goliath, or a rowboat versus a clipper ship, but somehow Jay was gaining the upper hand. Or was it the upper paw? Hard to tell.

He tried taking out another wing, only to get swatted with it. Jay tumbled end over end and almost crash-landed, until he righted himself and kept flying. He knew he had to do something decisive soon, or else he'd fall out of the sky from exhaustion. Below, his friends were shouting encouragement to him, but their voices were drowned out by the Deurodragon's growling.

Enough of this. He turned on a dime and zeroed in to attack the Deurodragon's wings again. Flying in towards the beast's left side, he extended his claws as far as he could. As he zipped past, he cut a long gash in the Deurodragon's side.

The Deurodragon roared so loudly it softened Jay's hearing.

Its skin was far thinner than he had expected. Already the skin was starting to pull apart and bleed. Jay turned his face away from the gross sight. But somehow, it did something.

The monster dragon's flight pattern grew erratic. The creature listed to one side, its wings flailing to keep aloft. The heads twisted around in agitation. Its claws stretched out to the sky, as if trying to grasp the clouds and stay in the air. Three jets of brilliant fire aimed at Jay were its swan song. The Deurodragon was going down. It was dying.

Yes!

Gleefully he watched the beast struggle as its body started to give out. One set of wings failed, followed by another and then another. Purple blood gushed from its wound. The blood loss was weakening it. Finally, in a mass of flailing wings, whip-snapping tails, and swinging limbs, the Deurodragon fell to the earth with a mighty crash. Dust and debris went flying, and the impact was hard enough to made the ground shake.

Amazing! I didn't know I could do it. Stunned, and his dragon mouth open in a goofy smile, Jay touched down and folded in his wings. His flight muscles ached, but he felt too proud of himself to care. He'd done it. He'd defeated that Deurodragon once and for all!

Footsteps came stampeding up to him. The first one to arrive was Petra (fastest runner), followed by Lukas and then Magnus. Axel hurried up behind them, huffing and puffing.

"Everything that just happened is so weird," Petra said, "but I'm so proud of you! Good job, Jay!"

"You did it, Jay." Lukas clapped for him. "You actually did it."

Jay let out a soft growl of contentment. He finally felt like he'd done the right thing. With his back turned on the Deurodragon, he didn't notice as one of its heads shifted slightly, or when one eye cracked open.

"Wait a minute," Axel said. "Has anyone seen Olivia? Or Ellegaard?"

Jay's eye widened.

They all looked over to where she had fallen after being struck. Gabriel and Olivia were at her side. Olivia was frantically tearing makeshift bandages from her dress and winding them around Ellegaard's injuries. Gabriel held her hand, trying to console her.

"Oh, no!" Petra gasped. "Ellegaard's hurt!"

She, Lukas, and Axel ran over to help Ellegaard. Jay would have, but suddenly a mouth full of teeth clamped down on his wing. He screeched in distress.

Help!

Petra looked back and saw Jay caught by a not-quite-dead Deurodragon. "No! Jay!" The girl glanced frantically back and forth between Ellegaard and Jay, not knowing whom to help.

He cried out at her. PETRA, HELP!

He couldn't tear himself free from the beast's jaws. He was helpless as the Deurodragon lifted him into the air, held painfully by one wing. With everyone watching, the Deurodragon whipped around and, with all its force, hurled Jay into the next state. The only thing the others could manage was a shocked "NO!"

The Deurodragon was so strong that it flung Jay clean out of Fragor and into the countryside. He sailed helplessly through the air, doomed to crash-land in the fields below, and possibly fatally at that. He slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs, and he tumbled end over end in a spray of dirt. His world faded to black as he lay there, a failed hero.

 **To be continued...**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for not updating sooner. It's been kind of a bad week.**

 **Oh, great, it ended up being full of backstory...**

 _She had seen it fall from the sky like a comet crashing to the earth. The scaly body, the massive leather wings, the clawed feet...it had looked like a dragon, but that had to be impossible. She thought that the dragons had all been killed off. But still...there was this one. So she ran out to the fields, reaching the crash site at sunset. And yes, it was a dragon. It crashed in the fields, leaving a crater where there had once been a grain crop. Stones and smoldering dirt littered the ground. The dragon itself lay contorted, with its legs pointing at the sky and its wings crushed under its body. She hadn't an idea what to do; there was no telling if the creature was even alive._

 _But then its broken body turned into an orb of pink light. She backpedaled several steps and took shelter in a thicket of bushes. The large form of the dragon pulled in on itself, shrinking until it was no bigger than a young man. In fact, that was the exact shape it took-a young man. When the light faded away, a badly injured youth remained. Curiously she approached. Dirt and soot obscured his features, but the subtle rise and fall of his chest indicated life._

 _She ran to go get help._

* * *

Someone pressed a damp towel to Jay's forehead. A hazy, feverish feeling lingered in his mind. He must have blacked out. He only remembered Soren opening his spellbook and saying stuff that made no sense. Everything else was a blank. He didn't know whose bed he was lying in or who this person dabbing his forehead with a cloth was. At least, he knew she was a girl with clear blue eyes and a herbal sort of smell clinging to her. A few braids and beads were woven into her blond hair. Jay had never seen the girl before in his life.

"W-Who are you?" he asked weakly. "And where am I?"

"Sshh," she soothed. "Now's not the time to ask questions. You're really weak right now. You gotta save your strength."

"But who are you? I'm confused."

"My name's Nell," she explained, "and I'll tell you the rest later, 'kay? Hey, try not to move around too much. You crash-landed really hard."

"What do you mean, I crash-landed?"

"You mean, you don't remember? It's kinda hard to forget being a dragon and falling out of the sky. Don't you even remember getting hurt?"

"I feel it now." Jay groaned as the pain from his mysterious injuries came back to him. "What happened?"

"Dude, I can't believe you don't remember it! You were a _dragon!_ And you fell out of the sky near by my house, and when I got close to the crater, you turned back into a boy. Were you under a curse or something?"

"I don't think so." He brushed back his frizzed, oily hair. "I must have blacked out."

"Totally! What do you remember, then?"

"I-I…" Jay squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think back. "I remember Soren saying something about turning me into a dragon. Then we got to Fragor to fight the Deurodragon, and Soren opened up a spellbook and started reciting something, and then everything turned pink and I don't remember anything else. Sorry."

Nell looked at him like he was speaking Greek while he related his story, but listened intently anyway. She was trying to put two and two together about the names he was mentioning. She assumed that the Deurodragon was some horrific monster, and that this Soren character was a friend.

"So you get where I'm coming from, then, right? 'Cause you admit that this Soren guy wanted to turn you into a dragon. It must have been to fight that Deurodragon you mentioned, whatever that is. You must've lost the fight, 'cha?"

"It's still all hazy."

"Hey, don't feel bad. Maybe it will come back to you. You gotta lie down and recover for a while, anyway. Won't be heading off for a rematch anytime soon, that's for sure."

Nell took the damp towel off of Jay's forehead. She crushed up some unusual-looking plants in a mortar and pestle, smooshing them into a paste. Jay watched blankly, not sure what she was doing. Nell peeled a cloth bandage off his arm and started rubbing the paste on his skin and joints.

"What's that?" he asked.

"You got busted up pretty bad when you landed. I got your bones and joints healed while you were still out, but you're probs still in a lot of pain, yeah?"

"Ughhh. No need to remind me." His body ached all over.

"This will help with that. Just a little bit of salve won't hurt, 'cha?"

"Uhh...Right."

He let her rub the salve on his arms, shoulders, and back. It felt nice, actually. Nell was a good masseuse. The salve stuff seemed to siphon the aches right out of his muscles and joints. A small moan of relief escaped his throat.

"There you go. All good." She put the excess salve away and gave Jay a wet towel to wipe himself clean. He sat up, propping his back against the pillow. As Jay cleaned the goo off his skin, he could feel his mind returning to normal. Things didn't feel so hazy anymore. But that also meant that his memories were coming back, and when the memories returned, they chased away his peace of mind. With a groan he collapsed back into bed.

The Deurodragon was still on the attack. Ellegaard was dead. Petra was infected with Deurodragon poison and would probably die, if they couldn't find some way to cure it. He had no idea where the surviving royals or his friends were, and if they were even alive as well. For all he knew, the Deurodragon could be flying over here at this moment to finish him off. He gritted his teeth and sat upright.

"I have to go!" He kicked the blankets off and tried to leave, but Nell pushed him down again. His head bounced against the pillow.

"No way, you can't go yet. You're still all beat up. Why are you trying to leave, anyway?"

"The Deurodragon," Jay explained hastily. "It was released on Murex and it's going to destroy the world if someone doesn't stop it. The plan was to reunite the Order of the Royals, and Soren thought I could beat the dragon if he turned _me_ into a dragon, but then it threw me into the countryside and-Nell, I need to go! Thank you, but I really can't stay another minute."

"But you're hurt."

"Bother that! The world's in danger." Jay kicked the blankets away again. "Why did I get called on as a hero, anyway? Grrgh. If Ivor were here, I swear I'd strangle him-"

"Care to repeat that comment?" a familiar old man's voice asked. None other than Ivor coolly strode into the room, stirring a potion inside a flask. He walked up to Nell's side and glanced down at Jay with a hard-to-read expression. Jay glared as soon as Ivor made an appearance.

"You…" he growled.

Ivor was unaffected. "So. The Order of the Royals' scheme failed miserably. Just like I suspected."

"Well, that's your fault. This whole disaster is your fault. How can you do something like this? Unleashing a monster on the whole world! What were you thinking?"

"You don't understand, do you? You don't know the whole story-"

"What more is there to know? You've cause the deaths of so many by releasing the Deurodragon."

"We can point blaming fingers later," said the alchemist, still stirring his potion. "Right now, don't you think it would be more conducive to stop the Deurodragon before it causes any more harm?"

"We almost had," Jay mumbled. "Soren turned me into a dragon so I could fight the Deurodragon. I thought I had killed it, but then it turned out to be alive after all...it grabbed me by the wing and threw me into the countryside."

"I found him in a field," Nell explained. "It was, like, the most unreal thing I'll ever see. Luckily he turned back into a boy when he crashed, so I could take him to the hut."

"So I see. Well done, Nell." Ivor cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Jay. Suddenly, he seemed less hostile. "You said something about Soren? You found the old recluse? And you actually convinced him to help you?"

"He thought that the way to fight the Deurodragon was to fight fire with fire. But I don't think it worked."

"No, it definitely didn't. Soren went about this all wrong."

"What does that mean?"

"The thing I've been trying to tell you all along! You can't beat the Deurodragon by physical means, that is, attacking it as a dragon. It just does not work that way. As the Deurodragon is a creature of magic, so it will take a hero of magic to defeat it."

"Wait." Jay sat up in bed. "How would you know that?"

Ivor looked very grave. "Who would know the nature of the Deurodragon better than the one who released it? I'm afraid, Jay, that you have been lied to for a very long time."

"What do you mean?"

Ivor didn't explain it right away. He addressed Nell, who was listening to them with wide blue eyes.

"Nell, dear," said Ivor, "please exit the cottage. I wish to speak to Jay alone."

Nell nodded, uncharacteristically silent, and hurried out of the room. Jay gulped, sensing a painful backstory incoming.

"I don't think you will like what you hear, boy," said Ivor. "Do you truly wish to proceed?"

"I think I do."

"Very well. Listen attentively."

Ivor took out a wand from his robe pocket. A stream of white sparkles curled out from its tip. It surrounded them in a misty, milk-colored cloud. Jay immediately felt tired and foggy-minded. It almost seemed like his dreams were seeping out of his head.

"We are accessing my memories, in case you were curious," Ivor explained. "I doubted that you would believe me if I told you the story outright, so let my projected memories be witness to what happened. At the very least, they'll make a splendid visual aid."

Jay murmured something, and he couldn't tell if his own words were agreement or dissent.

"Long before you were born, two princes succeeded their fathers and became kings. Those would be Magnus of Fragor and Gabriel of Murex."

The sparkling mist formed itself into the shapes of two men, young men who looked like Magnus and Gabriel, kneeling to receive the crowns of kingship. The Gabriel image glowed blue, while Magnus was green.

"Not long thereafter, Gabriel married Ellegaard to strengthen the alliance between Murex, his domain, and Gilbasapie, that of Ellegaard. Gilbasapie was an empire of intellectuals, philosophers, brilliant theologians, and of course the most practical of inventors. Truly a magnificent kingdom. I wish you could have seen it."

The mist shaped into impressive towers and Grecian buildings. In the midst of it stood Gabriel's image, kneeling before a woman as if proposing. Her mist was tinted red. Jay assumed that must be Ellegaard.

"What happened to Gilbasapie?" Jay inquired.

Ivor nodded gloomily at the image. Gabriel bridal-carried Ellegaard away from Gilbasapie, and no less than half a minute later, a swarm of dirty-looking thugs descended upon the empire.

"It was invaded?" Jay gulped.

"Indeed. It was sadly ironic that the wise and powerful Gilbasapie fell to uneducated barbarians from an unknown land. Those philistines leveled the place several years before your birth. If you were to travel where it once lay, you would only find charred rubble, slowly being overgrown as Brother Nature reclaims his territory. Perhaps Gilbasapie was too prideful for its own good. A haughty spirit goes before a fall."

"So what happened after that?"

"Swearing to never lose a kingdom in such a terrible way again, the kings and queens of the area decided to form the Order of the Royals. A circle of rulers and nobility sworn to protect their domains from attack. One of the greatest alliances ever forged. Five was a good number for an order. And you know who they were?"

"Right." Jay counted them off on his fingers. "Gabriel and Ellegaard of Murex, Magnus of Fragor, Soren of...Coraza, I think, and…" He trailed off. "Wait. There was a fifth member?"

Ivor nodded grimly. "Who do you suppose it may have been?"

"I honestly don't have a clue." Jay shrugged and twiddled his fingers anxiously. "I don't know any other royals in the area, and I can't think of anyone since I thought there were only four this whole time and…"

His gaze fell on Ivor.

"Good deduction, young one." Ivor crossed his arms. "My lineage is traced back to some obscure royalty. I cannot claim a throne, but I can enter the Order of the Royals. So I did."

"What happened then?"

"I became ensnared in all their useless drama." Ivor sighed. "Gabriel wanting to lead, though we thought that we had entered our alliance as equals. Magnus despising Ellegaard because she chose Gabriel over him, when Magnus was her first love. Soren being Soren, that idealist idiot. Politics, heroism, drama. Not sure whether it was glamorous or heinous. I suppose I shall never know for certain."

"Did you...did you and the Order go on adventures?"

"Oh, certainly. Once our alliance made it clear to our enemies that we were not to be trifled with, we engaged in more _sportif_ and daring pursuits. Hunting for treasure, raiding ancient temples, determining the truth of old legends, and of course, defeating terrible monsters. Of course, they probably told you about this, but did they ever go into excellent detail?"

The mist twisted and turned as it shaped itself to suit the things that Ivor talked about. Jay watched it all, mesmerized. And when Ivor started talking about the creatures and monsters the Order of the Royals fought…

"Werewolves in snowy forests, slime monsters in fetid swamps, white stags in dreamlike birch forests, faeries in the hidden glens...and I still remember the day we caught Re'em in those ancient foothills."

"Re'em? That's the great wild ox, isn't it?"

"You're a smart one, aren't you? I'll admit we had an advantage when the poor brute snagged his horns in a thicket; it was a smashing success nonetheless. But even Re'em was a small accomplishment compared to our final challenge."

Jay had an inkling of what that may be. "The Deurodragon?"

"Exactly, and that is where the story takes a dark turn." Ivor shook his head. "The Order of the Royals would have had the world believe that they killed it, decidedly winning a climactic battle to lay claim to a huge accomplishment."

Jay watched as the misty Order of the Royals struck down the image of a Deurodragon in a dazzling display of bravado and fireworks.

"But that isn't what happened."

The display fizzled out, blowing smoke in Jay's face.

Ivor continued his story: "We overestimated ourselves. We thought that we could handle this monster. I tried to warn everyone that because the Deurodragon is a creature of magic, it can only be killed by magic. Gabriel's sword, Magnus's black powder, or Ellegaard's inventive skills would do it no harm. But they would not listen to me."

"What happened?"

"Winning the battle was an impossibility, and loss meant certain death for all five of us. Forfeiture was the only way to survive the battle; we would escape with injured egoes, but that would be preferable to dying, of course. Some of us would have been content to simply flee the premise, but Soren felt that we couldn't leave empty-handed."

"I'm confused."

"He had me fashion, very hastily, a secure magic glass ball. He did not tell me its intended purpose. As the Deurodragon flew in to attack us, Soren used the glass orb's magic to seal in the beast. Instead of killing the Deurodragon, we captured it and hid it away in an unstable glass prison. But the Order of the Royals told the world that they killed it."

"They lied," Jay whispered.

"Cheaters and liars," Ivor said, spitting on the floor. "Magnus, Gabriel, Ellegaard, and Soren gladly took credit for something that they never accomplished. They used it as a ploy to gain power and favor. When I dissented, I was expelled from the Order of the Royals and erased from their history books. They made me an unperson, Jay. That is why you never knew who I was until I showed up on that decisive day."

"So what was your reasoning behind releasing the Deurodragon?" Jay felt his face burn with rising anger again. "Was it worth it?"

"I believe my story answers your question. I outed the Order of the Royals for who they truly are-sniveling cowards, cheaters, and damnable liars! And to do that, I released upon them the beast they claimed they had killed!"

Ivor slammed his fist down on a desk to punctuate the end of his story. The sparkling mist blinked away.

"Was it worth all this destruction?" Jay still could hardly understand why Ivor would do something like it.

"Am I proud of what I've done? No. I wouldn't pretend that I am or ever was. I regretted it the moment my stop-gap measure failed. Ever since that dreadful mishap, I've been trying to gather my resources in order to put an end to the blasted thing."

Jay sat up in bed, unable to say anything. He was still processing. Here he had thought that Ivor was nothing more than a curmudgeon bent on causing trouble, but there was an entire story that he had missed.

Just before Jay could open his mouth to respond, Nell came bursting into the room. Her eyes were wide, and her hair hung messily around her face.

"Child, you seem panicked. What is the problem?"

"We have visitors…" she gasped. "Ivor, the Order found you."

Jay kicked off the blankets. "Wait...The Order of the Royals is here?"

"They must have gone to where you crashed," Nell bit her lip. "I'm freaking out here. Are they friends or enemies?"

"It remains to be seen," Ivor said bitterly, pocketing his wand. "Get up if you can, Jay. I don't think I'm the one they want."

Jay staggered to his feet and hobbled out of Nell's modest cottage. Sure enough, the Order and Jay's friends stood in a chattering, panicking cluster outside the house. They talked over each other and argued when Jay made his appearance.

"Jay! We thought you died!" was the usual thing they yelled.

Jay glared at the Order of the Royals...the ones who had survived, at least. Ellegaard was gone. Gabriel looked grieved, and Magnus seemed angry at the whole world. Soren was frenetic, twiddling his thumbs and muttering to himself.

"Don't bother with excuses anymore," Ivor warned his former compatriots. "Jay knows the full story."

Soren started to protest, but Ivor gave him a cold, cutting glare. "You...you told him what happened?"

"I didn't spare a detail."

"But…"

"You know it's the truth."

Soren sighed in resignation. "Well, yes, but that's not the important thing right now. We have to destroy the Deurodragon."

"Obviously! But the plans you have are useless. You can't destroy the Deurodragon by physical means or by sorcery. Sorcery is stolen power. The Deurodragon is imbued with natural magic. Thus, only a hero of natural magic can defeat it."

Soren gritted his teeth. "Well, isn't that lovely? We don't have anyone here who has natural magic abilities."

"Perhaps not." The alchemist glanced in Jay's direction.

Jay felt his heart drop into his stomach and a clammy sensation spread across his skin.

 _Please. No. Don't tell them. Don't tell them._

With the entire assembly watching with bated breath, Ivor pointed at Jay.

"He has magic."


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter contains a plot twist that you probably saw coming a mile away! :P**

Jay looked at the others, wide-eyed and breathing heavily. Gabriel's expression was in constant flux as he processed what Ivor said: first he looked stunned, then confused, then angry and betrayed.

 _This is it. My life's over. Didn't even have to wait for the Deurodragon to kill me._

"How is that even possible?" Gabriel demanded. "How can I be sure you aren't lying to me?"

Ivor scoffed. "You know a thing or two about lying. I'm surprised that, with all your hunting of innocent magic people over the years, you'd recognize someone with earth powers when you saw them."

The king glanced at his former teammate, then at Jay, and then at Ivor again. "Ivor, if you are lying, I swear I'll kill you where you stand. I still have a sword. My kingdom is destroyed, our plans are for naught, my wife is dead, and now you're trying to tell me that there's been a judas in this group this whole time? A traitor practicing magic the whole while?"

"Examine the facts for yourself," Ivor said, crossing his arms. "Don't you remember what an earth magician looks like? Or have your forgotten because you drove them to nigh-extinction?"

"Enough with your accusations, enough with the speaking in circles! Just tell me the truth! Is he a sorcerer?"

Ivor rolled his eyes. "No, he is not. Magic and sorcery are not the same thing; if you listened when I talked, you would know that. Jay has magic. Powers of the earth and stone, to be specific."

Gabriel turned to Jay with a grave expression. "No, Ivor. Let the boy testify for himself."

"N-no…" Jay said quietly.

"Do not dissent to a king's orders. If you have it, show me your magic."

Jay ran away.

He suddenly bolted from the group, running into the woods behind the cottage. As he had given no clue that he would do that, everyone present was stunned for a second. That gave him time to make his escape. He crashed through a thicket of weeds in his blind run for cover. The shrubs tore his clothes and scratched his skin, but he didn't care. Jay stumbled down hills and struck his shins on rocks and tree roots, but he would not let himself stop. He ran until his breath went ragged and his legs protested. Then he collapsed on his knees in a clearing and lay there on his side.

"Ivor, why," he whispered. "You gave away my secret...Gabriel is going to kill me now."

The Deurodragon was still on the loose, but now defeating it seemed like a complete impossibility. Jay might as well lay here and wait for it to come, to come and destroy everything, to come and kill everyone. Like there was anything else he could do.

A cold wind blew through the trees, poking icy fingers through the rips in Jay's clothes. He shuddered. He halfheartedly lifted his arm and used his magic to generate new clothes for himself. Why bother hiding his magic now that the secret was out? He was new to the craft; they were nothing impressive: a shirt of blossoms and leaves, trousers of tightly wrapped vines, and pads of moss on his feet.

He glanced up, observing the tree-leaves fluttering in the wind and the sun peeking through the clouds. Birdsong echoed through the quiet air. The woodland was perfectly serene, as if unaware of the chaos raging outside. Lying on the ground, he could feel its energy and life deep within.

"You outdo yourself," he told the woodland. "Making all this serenity that no person ever sees? Heh...looks like I'm a part of you, now. I hope you'll take me in. No-one else will."

"Shh," the trees seemed to whisper. "Shh, shh."

"Sorry. I guess you want it quiet." Jay rested his head on the ground. He lay on a bed of last autumn's leaves. The serenity covered him like a blanket, swallowing him up into oblivion. Before he knew it, there was no Deurodragon and no kings out to kill him and no Ivors to disrupt his life. Just himself and his woodlands.

"You're selfish, you know that?"

Jay sat bolt upright, panting. "Huh?! Who said that?"

"Laying here and napping while my world is getting destroyed! You're the only one who can do something about it, and here you are sleeping while the world needs you the most. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Who are you?"

"You can't answer my question with a question. Speak!"

"I...uh…" Jay stammered. "Look, this is too much for one person to take! Also, if the Deurodragon doesn't kill me first, Gabriel will. I'm sunk."

"Sunk. Precisely. You wanted to _sink_ into the ground and forget about your problems, didn't you? You can't do that."

"Okay, who are you and what makes you think you can accuse me like this?"

"I'm suffering greatly because of that accursed dragon. When it tears at the earth, I feel it. While you were resting, I shared my life and energy with you, and you felt it. But when I tried to tell you that I was in pain, you ignored me. You fell asleep!"

Jay couldn't see who was accusing him, because their voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Who are you? You sound like a nature guardian or something."

"I'm not merely a guardian of nature. I am nature."

Jay's green eyes went wide. "You're _what_?"

"This problem has gotten so severe that the Maker has given me a voice to speak to you. You are the one who needs to hear it the most."

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Jay knelt. "I wasn't aware of your pain, Mother Nature."

"Off your knees!" snapped the voice, prompting Jay to jump up in surprise. "Don't speak to me as if I were a divine being. I'm not. I'm just as physical and temporal as your are. And my name is not Mother Nature."

"But...but I thought that was what we called her," Jay stammered.

"Well, you call me by an incorrect name. Do not call me Mother Nature. You were not born of me; you are not my child. I am a fellow creation alongside you. Therefore, you will call me not Mother Nature, but rather Brother Nature."

"Why me? Why must the fate of the world hinge on one person?"

"It has before, in greater matters," Brother Nature said cryptically, "but I digress. Perhaps you'd like to speak face to face? Allow me to present myself in more tangible form."

Before Jay's eyes, the ground shifted a bit and the dirt parted. To his bewilderment, a youthful man crawled out of the ground and stood up, looking him in the eye. Brother Nature, in his human form, was an abnormally tall person, with long tangled hair and skin so dirty that Jay couldn't tell what race he was. His body was covered in ivy and flowers.

"As I care for you, so you care for me," Brother Nature explained. "The Deurodragon is hurting me. Only you have the power to stop it. Please, go back and fulfill your mission. It has become your calling. That's the thing about heroism. You can't seek it out. It comes to you."

"But I just got caught for having magic. Gabriel wants to kill me."

"How do you know? You ran away from him."

"So what am I supposed to do? Go back to him and say, 'Hey, I'm going to use the magic you hate to save the world and kill the Deurodragon.' Is that what I'm supposed to say?"

Brother Nature's response was a flat "yes."

"Well, that's just fantastic."

"Good." He didn't get Jay's sarcasm. "You don't need to be afraid of who you are."

"Why do I feel like I've heard that before?"

"Shush. I have something important to say. You still don't understand that magic and sorcery aren't the same thing, do you? Sorcery is stolen power. People gorge themselves on its ability, harm others, and fall to ruin. That is why the Maker hates it. Magic, however, is something different. It is inborn and natural. You have been given a special measure of dominion over a part of creation. Consider it a blessing."

"I don't know if I believe that…"

Brother Nature scoffed, a bit offended. "Excuse me, Jay, but you are receiving permission from nature itself to use earth magic. I'd appreciate it if you stopped giving me excuses."

"Fine." Jay sniffed. "What do I tell Gabriel?"

"Everything that I have just told you. Now go on your way. The world needs you."

Jay sighed, stressed by the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Brother Nature suddenly gasped and darted away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Jay called after him.

Brother Nature made no response. He crashed through a thicket and was gone. Running footsteps approached from behind. Jay spun around to face them.

"Nell? What are you doing here?"

The blond girl pushed her braids out of her face. "I went to go looking for you. I had a feeling that I'm the only person you sort of trust right now."

"Unless you plan on turning me over to Gabriel, I suppose I do," Jay said with a shrug. "Why did you want to find me?"

"Well, saving the world for one thing, and also, you seem like you need encouragement." She looked him up and down. "Nice new clothes, by the way."

Jay glanced down at his leafy ensemble. "I don't think so. I look like Adam in Eden."

"You're embracing your magic!" She smiled. "I'm proud of you."

"I only made these because my old clothes were torn up." He crossed his arms. "Besides, now that my secret is out, why bother hiding it anymore?"

"Exactly the point." Nell poked her finger at him. "We need your help, Jay. Only a person born of magic can destroy the Deurodragon."

"What about Gabriel?"

"Um, there isn't much he can do about your powers right now." Nell rolled her eyes. "I'd say he has a much bigger problem right now. And one more thing. You're worried about doing this alone, aren't you?"

Jay nodded.

"I understand. Well…" She glanced behind her, where flowed a small stream. "...Eh, showing is better than telling. There's something I want to show you."

She turned to the stream, took a deep breath, and made a lifting motion with her arms. A ribbon of water lifted out of the stream, directed by the movements of Nell's hands. She brought it over to Jay, where she shaped it into a heart before his very surprised eyes.

"You have magic too?" He was dumbfounded. "Water magic?"

"Yes." Nell let the water heart splash over her hands. "That's why I live with Ivor; I'm his ward. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't have to fight your battle alone. Two people born of magic can defeat the Deurodragon."

"You'd help me?"

"Why wouldn't I? Come on." She offered her hand. "Let's go back. There's a world to save."

Jay didn't really need to hold her hand, but he did anyway as they trekked back out of the woods. Secretly, he was almost giddy to know that he wasn't alone. He didn't even notice the scratching branches and prickly ground, he was so absorbed in thinking about how he'd met another person with magic. It didn't feel as if it was him versus the world anymore.

The whole group was waiting for them when they emerged from the woods. Petra's expression twitched a little when she saw Jay holding Nell's hand. Gabriel and Ivor were arguing. Everyone else looked nervous, especially Soren.

"Will you put aside your prejudice for a little while, Gabriel?" Ivor snapped. "When will you judge people by their actions and not their identity?"

Gabriel didn't say anything, but glared at Ivor.

Ivor turned to face the group. "Do not lie to yourselves! There is no other option. We have one chance left to end the Deurodragon, and I will not let it go to waste. If you shall never again listen to me, let this be the one time you will. I am going to amend for my wrongdoing, and if it kills me, well, so be it. The monster still hovers over Fragor. That is our final battleground. Whoever wishes to come, let him or her come now."

There was a pause. Petra was the first to step forward, followed by Lukas, then Axel, and then Olivia.

"Our last stand," Petra mused, drawing her sword. "I like that. Sounds heroic."

"We're with you to the end, Jay," Lukas encouraged.

"Aw, come what may," Magnus vowed as he came forward, followed shortly by a nervous Soren.

After much hesitation, Gabriel walked up to Ivor. "Perhaps we can resolve our differences. I can't believe I'd ever say this, but lead the way, Ivor."

The group mounted their unicorns and turned towards Fragor. A cold wind whipped in from the south, and bruised purple clouds hung overhead. But now was not the time to quail, so they flicked the reins and marched on to Fragor.

Jay kept a determined glare leveled on the horizon as they rode the unicorns into the ruined city. A cloud of smoke blotted out the sun and filled the air with its heavy, acrid scent. Jay scanned the sky, looking for his enemy's misshapen form.

And there it was, hovering over the city, its wings pumping to keep it aloft. It blew fire over what little remained of the kingdom, reducing scorched craters. By now, the monster had five heads, eight wings, six legs, and four tails. The cut in its skin from its previous battle with Jay had torn wide open. Now, a large hole gaped in the monster's side, so wide that someone could literally go inside its body cavity. Gross.

But that was, apparently, the precise thing that Ivor had on mind. He directed everyone into the last piece of shelter left in Fragor - an underground space that had once been someone's wine cellar. They crouched in the dark, having no clue what they needed to do for their final battle. The weight of responsibility pressed down on Jay's shoulders. Lukas and Olivia huddled next to each other for support. Petra was as pale as a piece of paper. Jay shuddered at the glazed look in her eyes, and he feared that she wouldn't make it through another day at this rate. Gabriel seemed to have shut down internally; he sat in a corner and refused to speak to anyone. Reuben sniffled and clung to Jay's side.

"I hope you have a plan, Ivor," Jay said to the alchemist. "Think of something."

"The first thing I'm doing to do," said Ivor, "is make a protection spell over this cellar. That will make it into a bunker of safety against the Deurodragon. Come with me. It's best not to do it in front of Gabriel. Nell, why don't you come as well? Jay will need your help."

After making sure that everyone else was safely holed up in the depths of the cellar, Jay, Ivor, and Nell moved to the front of the cellar. Jay, who had no idea how sorcery worked, watched intently. Nell, who was used to seeing Ivor do his hocus-focus, was much less affected.

"I'm going to use ancestral sorcery to seal the protection spell," Ivor explained. "It's stronger than the normal route."

"Ancestral sorcery? What's that?"

"Harnessing the power of my ancestors and descendants. Only someone with the same bloodline as me could break this barrier. Not even a rampaging dragon could shatter this tower of refuge."

Ivor held out his hands at the cellar door and started chanting in a magical language. It sounded different than the incantations that Soren had used to turn Jay into a dragon. The language had a deeper, more guttural accent. It sounded, as Jay would have put it, "earthy." Like it truly was calling back to time past and forward to time future.

A web of deep purple energy latticed across the cellar door and the walls around them, forming a sphere of protection. It glowed brightly, so brightly that Ivor himself gave a start of surprise at it.

"Hallo!" he exclaimed. "That was stronger than I expected it to be. That should have been a difficult spell to do alone."

"Maybe you don't know your own power," Jay said.

"The only way for it to have been that strong was if I had the energy of another blood relative in the vicinity," Ivor mused. "But how could that be? My parents are long dead. I have no brothers, no sisters…"

Nell cried out in surprise. "Jay, your veins are glowing!"

"Huh?" Jay looked down at his arms. Indeed, a purple light pulsed within his veins. He looked up in Ivor in confusion, green eyes wide.

Ivor blanched. "No. No, that can't be possible. The only way for your veins to be glowing would be if you…"

Nell covered her mouth with her hand. "He'd have to be closely related to you."

Ivor's expression morphed from bemused to worried as the realization swept over him.

"Y-You...you never knew your father, is that correct?" Ivor asked Jay haltingly.

"I don't even know what his name was," Jay replied. "My mother never brought it up."

He expected Ivor to lecture him again about moral decay and whatnot, but the alchemist did no such thing. Instead, he started pacing around and muttering anxiously. So Jay had somehow been affected by Ivor's ancestral sorcery, and now the man was asking him personal questions about his heritage. Only one possibility was coming to mind at the moment, and Jay didn't want to think that it was true.

Ivor grabbed Jay by the shoulders suddenly. "What is your mother's name, lad? Tell me the truth."

"Nimue."

"Is...Does...Does she have magic? She must have. You would have inherited it from her."

"Yes, that's true. She has fire magic. It makes her eyes red, just like how my earth magic makes my eyes green." Jay's response was wary. Ivor's strange behavior was creeping him out.

Ivor let go of Jay's shoulders. "No...No, you can't mean that. She would have told me! She wouldn't have just let that one go…"

"What are you talking about?" Jay crossed his arms.

Ivor took a deep breath. "Jay, you're my son."

"What?!" Jay shrieked. "No!"

"I'm just as upset as you are!"

"Why didn't my mother ever tell me?"

"Bring that up with her, not me."

"How did you...Why…"

"It was a moment of weakness!" Ivor threw up his hands. "I met her whilst traveling, and we quickly learned of each others' powers. We were companions for a spell...no pun intended."

"And you just left her?"

"I didn't know she would be having a child. I would have stayed if I'd known."

"I lived my whole childhood without a father figure." Jay glared. "It was a lonely time, Ivor!"

"You seem to have turned out fine despite that." Ivor was trying to keep up his stoic demeanor, but it was failing him. "Look, now is not the time for discussing this."

"It most certainly is."

A muffled road sounded overhead. Ivor shook his head fervently.

"No, it is not. We will deal with this personal issue later. For now, there's a Deurodragon to slay. You and Nell are the only ones who can do anything about it."

"Yeah, yeah, creature of magic needs a hero of magic to kill it, so on and so forth. I get it! What's the plan?"

"Tear out its heart. That's the only certain way to kill this kind of beast."

"I should have known it wouldn't be simple."

"It rarely is, son."


	13. Chapter 13

**The blank page. It mocks me.**

Ivor, Jay, Nell, and Reuben emerged from the shelter. A cold wind whipped around them. A massive shadow lingered over Fragor, cast by the Deurodragon. Reuben sniffled and clung to Jay's arm. Jay stared at the hole in the monster's side. He could see bones and pieces of muscle sticking out. Not a nice sight.

"How are we going to get in there? We couldn't let Soren turn me into a dragon again. I wouldn't fit through the tear," Jay said.

"We'll have to launch you up to it," Ivor replied.

"Am I supposed to tear the heart out with my bare hands?"

"I think I can help with that." Nell stepped forward. "I've been practicing."

"Practicing what?" Ivor asked, a bit skeptic.

"Now that I've mastered water control at this level," she explained, "I've tried my hand at generation magic. Let me try something."

Jay stiffened. "This isn't going to hurt, is it?"

"Not if I do it correctly. Stand still."

Nell moved her hands like ocean waves, causing a blue mist to appear between them. She wafted the mist over to Jay, who stood like a wooden board. He didn't know what to expect, and felt a bit nervous as the mist molded around him.

"Loosen up," Nell advised him. "That will make for a better fit."

Jay relaxed his muscles slightly. The mist began to harden, shaping itself into interlocked plates. They shone like glass but were as hard as metal. Each piece was a variation of blue, green, or white. Jay didn't know what material one would call this, but he could recognize the whole as his very own suit of armor.

"There," Nell said when she was finished. "You're going to need armor. No knight goes up against a dragon without armor, 'cha? It'll be dangerous in there."

"That's a given. What is this?"

"I just said. Armor."

"I know that. What's it made of?"

Nell shrugged. "Magic, I guess. A bit of hope, lots of love…"

"I have so much to learn." Jay knocked on a shoulder plate with his hand, testing its sturdiness. "Wait, did you say 'lots of love?'"

Nell changed the subject. "You'll need a weapon, too. Who knows what that dragon is going to throw at you. Do you like swords?"

Jay thought back to his fight with Magnus. "Not really."

"Okay, yeah. Swords are cliché. How about an axe instead?"

"Where are we going to get an axe?"

Nell snapped her fingers, releasing a bit of magic mist. She winked.

"Right."

"One axe, coming right up." Nell started to move her hands like ocean waves again. Jay stared at her hands, mystified by how she could generate material from thin air. He longed to master his own elemental powers. Beyond controlling a bit of earth and generating clothes for himself, he didn't know much about the skill that he carried deep within his being. He felt embarrassed with himself for not knowing more.

Nell now had a rod of blue mist in her hands, and she pressed and molded it like clay. It began to take the shape of a shaft and head of a weapon. Jay watched, impressed by her skill. She glanced back at him with a small smile.

"That armor looks good on you," she told him. "The green helps your eyes stand out."

"I have it thanks to you," he replied. "You're good at crafting."

"Tell me what you think." Nell finished making the axe. It had a broad, curving blade made out of what could best be described as metallic seashell and coral. Despite the large blade, the axe was rather light; Jay could carry it with ease. While Nell, Ivor, and Reuben stood clear, he gave it a few practice swings.

"The axe is tougher than it looks," Nell said. "It holds together and stays strong as long as its bearer has magic and a pure heart. So don't go evil or anything while inside the Deurodragon, or else you're dead."

"Nice to know," Jay said sarcastically. Then he felt bad for being rude to Nell, so he caught himself with, "Erm, sorry. Thanks for your help, Nell."

"I'm not done yet." Nell pointed up at the monster floating overhead. "You need a way to launch up to the Deurodragon. I can help you with that."

"How so?"

"I could summon a large wave and it could carry you to-"

"Bah!" Ivor interrupted. "We don't have time to play with water. You can't summon a wave high enough. Let me handle this. Your girlfriend's done enough. It's time for some father-son bonding time, eh?"

Jay looked at Ivor quizzically. "Huh? What did you call her?"

Ivor yelled something in sorcery-language while pointing at his son. An invisible energy surged towards Jay and surrounded him. It was a strong force, strong enough to lift him right off the ground. Ivor was, evidently, going to levitate him to the Deurodragon.

As if that wasn't a big enough surprise, Reuben suddenly broke away from the others and jumped at Jay. He rode on the shockwave from the levitation, landing right in Jay's arms.

"Reuben?!" Jay panicked. "What are you doing? This is no place for a-"

Ivor's spell no longer levitated, but fairly flew, the two boys right into the hole in the Deurodragon's side.

"-kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid!"

* * *

Jay huddled his arms around Reuben to protect him from the impact. They swooped through the hole in the Deurodragon's side, almost getting caught on its exposed bones. Jay landed on his back, getting the wind knocked out of him. Reuben whimpered and clung to the front of Jay's armor for dear life. Jay coughed, got his wind back, and sat up. He scooped his axe off the ground beside him.

"Reuben, you shouldn't have done that." He peeled the kid off him. "That was very dangerous."

Reuben looked downcast.

"But then again, I am kind of glad you came." Jay glanced around at the dark, pulsating inner body of the Deurodragon. "Ugh, what a creepy place. Watch your step."

The two boys stood up and brushed themselves off. An eerie reddish-purple glow filled the body cavity of the Deurodragon. It took a minute for Jay to realize that it was coming from inside the monster's bones. The marrow in the bones was phosphorescent. The bone itself wasn't even bone; it was _glass_. Which only further told Jay that the Deurodragon was far from a natural creature. Reuben shuddered and hung close to Jay's side.

The Deurodragon let out a low growl, sensing their presence. Jay moved inward, leading Reuben by the hand. He glanced up at the ridge formed by the dragon's spine and the outline of its ribs. Some of the bones were broken and sticking out at odd angles. A deep rumble sounded through the dragon's body cavity; it was the noise of its blood pumping through its massive veins.

Speaking of blood, Jay said, "I need to find the heart. Where would it be?"

They started their walk through this unpleasant environs. Underfoot was squishy muscle, and their feet sunk into it like it was bog grass. It made a gross squelching sound with each step. Jay swallowed to keep his food down and scanned their surroundings, trying to figure out which organ was which. They all looked like purplish blobs of muscle. Jay didn't know anatomy; he couldn't tell a liver from a stomach. Especially not when they were magnified several times and placed in the body of an unnatural, magical monster.

Since both he and his enemy were creatures of magic, Jay wondered if his powers could lead him to the heart. He tried to breathe in deep (ignoring the rotting stench of the dragon's innards) and focus. The familiar ancient, deep feeling coursed through him, collecting at his feet. It gave him a sort of drive.

"Found the way," he muttered, and let his heart guide him. Now, "follow your heart" is popular but not always wise advice. In this case, however, it helped him. The lights dimmed and the walls seemed to close in on him, but the drive from his magic guided him. At long last, they encountered the dragon's heart. It was a dark purple mass with many veins strung to it. It pulsed with a faint light on each beat. Reuben whimpered. Jay took a deep breath.

" _En garde_." He drew his axe.

Reuben hung back as Jay approached the heart to cut it out. The axe blade glinted in the light pulsing from the heart. The organ gave off a massive aura of bad energy. Jay raised his weapon to sever the largest vein-

Something whipped him from the side. He went flying and fell on his stomach. He shot his hand out and grabbed his axe before it could slide away. Reuben cried out in fear. Dazed, Jay looked up to see what had struck him. He gaped at the sight. The Deurodragon had grown an extra arm _inside its body._ The spare appendage flexed its muscles and slashed its claws at him.

"Gross!" Jay scrambled back to his feet. "That's so wrong."

He lashed out with his axe and managed to cut through a few veins. Purplish blood seeped from them. Jay gagged and very hastily made a leaf scarf to cover his nose and mouth. He dodged out of the way when the dragon arm lunged for him. He brought the axe down on the arm, hacking it off at the elbow. Outside, the Deurodragon reacted with a loud but muffled roar.

"This is crazy," Jay said. "How can it grow limbs inside its body?"

He could ponder that later, but for now, the Deurodragon was still on the attack. It grew an extra tail and used it as a sort of whip. Jay jumped left and right to avoid the snapping tail, trying to get close enough to the heart to cut a few more veins. He struck the tail to temporarily repel it, then whipped around and used the axe to slice through another bundle of veins. The dragon roared again. Jay wiped the sweat from his forehead. So far, he'd severed the heart almost halfway. It beat rapidly, now that the dragon was under stress from the assault.

Just when Jay thought it might be easy to finish the job, the Deurodragon sprouted a new _head_ within its body. He barely dodged the monster's snapping teeth and smoky breath. When it lunged in to grab him in its teeth, he wormed out of the way and frantically hacked off the head with his axe. It seemed that for every limb he cut off while trying to get the heart, the dragon instantly grew another one.

"Reuben," he called to the little boy, who cowered in a corner. "I need your help. I can't get to the heart! Can you help?"

Surprisingly, Reuben took a shot of courage just then, wanting to help Jay. He sprung to his feet and pulled a little knife out of his belt. Jay winced, fearing that it wouldn't be enough.

"Just...just be careful," he warned the kid. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

Reuben made a resolute expression; he stabbed at a dragon arm with his little knife. He managed to strike right on a nerve, prompting the arm to twitch wildly and retract in pain. Jay nodded in approval.

"Good man. Hold off the arms and heads and tails. I'll go for the heart."

While Reuben held off the Deurodragon's counteroffensive, Jay ran at the heart. He dodged the tail whips, grabbing claws, and slashing fangs. He was bleeding from several nicks and cuts of his own, but he ignored them. Right now, he needed to focus on cutting out the dragon's heart. Do or die.

A tail whip slapped him when he went off-guard for a few seconds. Pain exploded through his body. He struggled to not go down. Fueled by anger against this monster, he rushed at its heart, steeled to tear it out and put an end to its reign of terror. With its roars ringing in his ears, Jay lifted the axe and prepared to sever the last vein.

"Back to where you belong, hellspawn."

He brought down the axe. It cut through the vein with ease. The lights faded out on the heart. The Deurodragon let loose with a deafening, gurgling roar. Jay felt a surge of thrill as the dragon's muscles spasmed and its body tilted from side to side. It was dying. He'd done it.

"Stay close to me, Reuben." He pulled the little boy close and protected him in his arms. "We might be in for a rough landing."

His heart seemed to climb in his throat as he felt the floor plunging. The Deurodragon was falling out of the sky. Reuben squealed in fear, burrowing his face into Jay's chest. Jay pressed against a wall to brace himself. They'd feel quite the jolt when the dead dragon impacted land.

And it did. It plunged into a lake, throwing water several meters into the air. The dead Deurodragon was a mess of broken limbs and twisted wings. Water started to pour into the body cavity through the hole in its side. Knowing that Reuben couldn't swim, Jay carried him piggyback as he swam out of the rapidly flooding space. Outside the Deurodragon, the sky had brightened to its normal, clear blue. What a relief!

Jay paddled to the edge of the lake and climbed out onto the rock-strewn shore. Both he and Reuben were soaked to the bone and rather scratched-up from the Deurodragon fight, but miraculously, neither one had any serious injuries. Reuben had evaded most of the danger, and Jay's armor had protected him from the worst blows.

Speaking of which, having fulfilled its purpose, the armor had vanished off his body. Now he just wore his leafy clothes. The axe was gone, too. Jay was a little disappointed that he didn't get to keep his armor and weapon, but now that he had finished his mission, he guessed that it was only fair.

"Good job, Reuben." Jay gave the boy a hug. "That was very brave of you."

Reuben cooed and snuggled in his arms.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" Jay brushed his wet hair out of his face and looked around. "Where are Ivor and Nell and the others?"

Not distantly, Fragor was still smoldering. Jay could even smell the sulfur from where he stood. He perked up at the sound of running feet. Nell was the first one on the scene. Ivor wasn't far behind, although his age kept him from matching the girl's pace.

"You did it, Jay! I knew you could." She captured him in a big hug. "Well done."

Jay melted into the embrace. "Thanks."

Ivor chuckled, watching them. Jay's cheeks flushed pink.

He pulled out of the hug, flustered. "Where are the others? Lukas, Petra, Axel...where are they?"

"They're coming," Nell said. "You know, I don't think your Petra friend likes me very much."

"Oh...Right...Huh, I wonder why that is."

He could ask Petra at that specific moment if he wanted, because she was right behind Lukas as the rest of the motley crew hurried over to the lakeshore. They gawked at the sight of the massive dead Deurodragon lying in the lake.

"Not too shabby, not too shabby at all." Petra patted Jay on the back. "Hey, there's something I want to show you."

Jay turned to her. "What's that?"

"I know you kind of had to push it out of mind lately, but…" She unbuckled the straps on her arm bracer. When it fell away, Jay couldn't see anything special about her arm. And that was the exact point.

"The poisoned blood! It's gone."

"Exactly. When you killed the dragon, it must have neutralized the poison. Not sure how that works, but why would I complain about that?" She chuckled and strapped the armor piece back on. "Good work, Jay."

He smiled. "Thanks."

Then Gabriel pushed his way into the conversation.

"Well done, lad!" Gabriel said, trying to act more goodly than he really was. "You've accomplished a grand feat. The world is safe once more! How bold. How honorable. I should make you a knight."

Jay looked off to the side awkwardly. A week or so ago, Gabriel would have a rope around Jay's neck for associating with magic. Now the man gushed about what a hero he was. It didn't seem sincere at all.

Ivor shot Gabriel a dirty look. "You owe him an apology."

"Father doesn't owe anyone anything," Olivia cut in. "He's applauding Jay for a job well done. What's so wrong about that?"

Ivor sort of ignored her. "Gabriel, aren't you going to apologize for making the lad fear that you'd chop his head off?"

"Um…" Gabriel looked very embarrassed. "I should...I think I owe my entire kingdom an apology, actually. Well…(he sighed)...what's left of my kingdom."

Everyone looked downcast as they thought about it. Petra's sickness may have been cured by the Deurodragon's death, but the rest of the damage remained. Fragor was still leveled and Murex was in ruins, and hundreds of people had died. It was hard to tell how Ivor felt about the disaster.

Gabriel put an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Olivia, dearest, don't be downcast. I know it's hard. But we have to be strong. We'll hold a funeral for Ellegaard. We'll rebuild Murex. I'll rebuild Murex with my own hands if I have to. We're only hopeless if we believe that we are."

* * *

Over the course of many months, and betwixt the efforts of many dedicated architects and builders, Murex was restored to its former glory. Nobility, artisans, clergy, and peasantry all worked together to put their kingdom back together. It was a demonstration of human determination and optimism. Soon the castle was restored, the houses rebuilt, and the fields restored to life. Jay could walk through its streets without fearing for his life. But for the time being, he chose to return to his mother's house. Nimue reunited with her son with many hugs and tears. She told him the story of his origin, and she promised him that she would teach him more about his unique abilities.

Not long after Murex was rebuilt, Gabriel invited Jay and his friends to a banquet. He wanted to recognize their heroism. Jay was a bit embarrassed, not really believing himself to be a hero, but he politely accepted the recognition.

At the banquet, Petra told him that she was considering him making him a knight - what an honor! Olivia was impressed with his accomplishment and thanked him for helping bring her down from her previous, snooty attitude. He didn't really get to talk to Axel; Axel was too busy eating cake. Lukas was a bit uncomfortable at the party and preferred to go back to his tribe, saying that gypsies don't like to be enclosed in stone walls. And Jay and Nell took a long walk through the courtyards, talking each other's ears off about magic. Jay reshaped the faces on some stone garden statues to have silly expressions; Nell made a fountain flow backwards with her water magic. The best moment of all, however, was when Gabriel stood up during the banquet and announced that he would be lifting his ban on magic. No more would Jay's kind be in danger in his domain. It was a lovely night, to put it in a large understatement.

Things were finally going the right way. Or so he thought.

 **END PART I**

 _ **Happy endings are ever so elusive...this story shall by no means be an exception...**_


	14. Chapter 14

_Part II Prologue_

A late-night rain misted the village streets, and the full moon washed them in pale blue light. The rain drummed gently against glass windowpanes and clay shingles. It also dampened the hair and cloaks of a small group of people on the clandestine move. None of them could afford shoes, so they padded along on quiet bare feet. They occasionally shot each other glances from under their hoods, but dared not speak a word.

The oldest among them glanced up at the windows of the houses around them. The golden glow of lanterns was absent. To his companions, he mouthed something about 'a short walk to the place' before hurrying along. They followed, occasionally lifting their glances to check that yes, indeed, no-one was awake at this hour to watch them.

Or was there someone awake?

The man in the lead carried a small wooden box. He held it close to his chest and draped his tunic sleeves over it to hide it as he walked. He chuckled, pleased to have it. At last, he had gathered everything he and his companions needed. Tonight, he would put them to use.

Using the village church as a reference point, he got a bearing on the path they were to follow. They went down a dark street, sticking to shadowy alleyways. Occasionally he would glance back to make sure they were still following and he had not lost anyone on the way.

At the edge of the village, there was a graveyard. It was a poorly tended place. Parts of the fence had fallen over, and the iron gate hung open for anyone to enter. Not that anyone particularly wanted to enter. Few wanted to go to this reminder of death, even to visit a passed-on friend or relative. It was a perfect place for a gathering of sorcerers to operate in secret.

The eldest pushed open the gate, slowly so that it did not creak. He slipped inside and motioned the others forward. They huddled into a group and scuttled along the lonely path snaking through the graveyard. They glanced around curiously at the gravestones. Some were shaped like crosses; others bore statues of the saints; still others were little more than carved mounds of stone. There must have been well over a hundred markers.

Now that they were deep in the seclusion of the graveyard, they relaxed and began to talk to each other again.

"You have the box?" whispered one woman.

"Yes," said the eldest, slipping it out of his tunic sleeve. "Right here."

"Good. Open it."

He went to work on the lock.

"So. We have done it," said one man, hugging his wife around the shoulders. "We can be safe. We can find our own kind."

"Yes, yes, and we shall be free," said the eldest, opening the box. "And it starts now."

"Hurry, please," one of the women requested. "I do not want to stand in the rain for long."

He took out a cherrywood wand from the box. "With this spell, we will be able to locate and track fellow sorcerers. We will find them in a land that accepts our kind. Hey, maybe we could even build our own community of sorcerers. A secret, safe place."

"And no-one could arrest us for using magic?" asked the youngest man in the group.

The eldest tousled his hair. "No, young one. No-one could come against us for that."

"Then cast that spell! We must be away."

The eldest rubbed his fingers on the smooth cherrywood of the wand. It glistened in the moonlight. He shut his eyes and imagined the words of the spell in his mind, then pictured how it would play out. Their veins would glow pink and a matching pink trail would appear in midair, leading them out of Murex and into a canaan of freedom and safety. For family, for friends, for love of who they were, he had to do this, whatever the risk.

He smiled, raised the wand, and spoke the sorcerous words.

The sorcerers' veins flashed pink, then the magic fizzled away.

"Drat," the eldest grumbled.

"Oh, no! Does this mean the magic does not work?" a worried man asked.

"No. Not quite. Perhaps I was not trying hard enough. Let me do it again."

Once more he raised the wand and brought it down, thinking and imagining and believing. He chanted the spell again.

The magic remained a few seconds longer before fading out again.

"Wait. I have an idea," said the eldest. "We should all say it together."

"Oh, yes, we can do that!" was the response from the others. "Let's do it."

They joined hands and formed into a ring around the eldest as he raised his wand. In unison, they repeated the magic chant.

The pink magic glowed in their veins, the magic that united them as sorcerers. A trail of the same pink energy seeped from their veins and floated on the air, spinning away into the night, carving a trail for them to follow.

"It's working!" they gasped in excitement.

"Keep chanting."

The pink swirled and glowed about them.

"Excellent, my dear—Oh, Lord, have mercy," the eldest said suddenly. His blood ran cold as he saw torches glimmer in the rainy night. Even from the distance, he could hear their clanking armor and weapons. It was a company of soldiers, headed toward the graveyard. Quickly the eldest threw his wand back in the box and snapped it shut.

The clatter of horse hooves beat the ground, out of rhythm with the rain's drumming. Torches flashed in the dark, their oil-fueled flames unquenched by the rain. Swords and spears glinted in the moonlight. The soldiers thrust onto the graveyard and arranged to surround their quarry. The captured sorcerers were frightened, but not so much of the soldiers as of the one who rode on the ominous, pale gray horse approaching them.

The rider stopped the horse behind the line of soldiers. She flipped her hood down, letting her blood-red hair spill down her back. Her eyes were hard, acid-green, and empty. Her expression was devoid of emotion. A stone could have shown more feeling.

"Judge Cassandra Rose," the eldest gypsy whispered.

"Look, Judge," one of the soldiers said, grabbing the wooden box out of his hands and wrenching it open. "See, they hold the damning evidence right in their hands. Potion bottles. Magical reagents. And I believe this cherrywood stick is a wand?"

"A clear charge of possession of magical material," another soldier said. "Their guilt is certain. Judge? Judge?"

"No! You don't understand," one of the women protested. "This is not-"

The eldest lay his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "Please, dear heart. Do not lie. Do not give them another charge to put on us."

"They could not outrun justice," Cassie said, her tone as flat as a slab of marble. "Arrest them."

The soldiers were only too happy to comply. They wrenched each person's arms behind their back and then locked their wrists into shackles. None of the sorcerers dared resist their captors, not with so many weapons at the ready. Cassie could snap her fingers, and the soldiers would gladly run each magician through with their swords.

The eldest was wearing a silk cowl scarf. A soldier tore it off and rubbed it in his hands, examining it.

"Silk," the soldier murmured.

"Yes, silk," said the eldest. "Brought from the desert kingdoms. 'Tis a reminder of home. Give it back."

"Oh, so it has sentimental value, then?"

"What are you doing?"

The soldier grinned evilly at the eldest and touched the scarf to his torch. The delicate silk and artful embroidery went up in flames. Snickering, the soldier tossed the burning scarf on the ground. The flames consumed the rest of the silk, leaving behind a shriveled ashen gossamer that melted away in the rain.

His mouth gaped open in shock. "Hey!"

"Oh, it will only hurt all the more to be reminded of home in prison."

"Take them away," Cassie instructed. She gave no clue of having reacted to the pointless act of meanness she had just witnessed.

Each soldier took a prisoner to break up the group. One woman was pulled away from her husband by this separation, and began to cry out in grief. The couple reached out to each other, as far as their chains would allow.

"Please! Don't do this. Don't take him away from me!" she sobbed.

"No! Let me go with her!" he pleaded to his captor.

For the first time since her arrival that night, Cassie Rose showed a bit of emotion. A smirk grew on her sanguine lips.

"Oh, don't worry, poor young lovers. You will be together again soon...in death."

She directed the procession forward. The arrested sorcerers were goaded forward at swordpoint, on their way to a dismal dungeon, a rigged trial, and a prompt execution. Cassie chuckled to herself, pleased with a job well done. Eight or so fewer sorcerers to walk the streets of Murex. She looked forward to the day when there would be none at all.

One soldier backtracked to Cassie. He was the one holding the confiscated box. Discreetly he opened it and showed the judge the contents.

"They didn't have the object you seek, ma'am," he whispered.

Cassie swore under her breath. "We'll have to continue the search. Look for the others. I know it's out there somewhere."


	15. Chapter 15

_At the banquet…_

The applause and laughter died down at last. That had been one excellent routine. The court jester and his troupe of dancers took a bow and accepted the coins tossed to them as tips. The jester blew a kiss at Princess Olivia, who rolled her eyes and pretended to wave it away. She nudged her father, who sat in his fancy chair next to her, with her elbow.

"Father, that is ever so silly," she said.

"Do lighten up, Olivia," Gabriel said with a chuckle. "He's only trying to be funny."

"Trying."

"Don't worry, my dear. I won't be marrying you off to any absurd peasants. In fact, I need your opinion about that specific thing. I traveled briefly to Coraza while our castle was being rebuilt, in order to confer with Coraza's king. It seems his second son is of age to marry. You are approaching the age, as well."

"Hmm," Olivia murmured. "What is he like? Did you speak to him yourself?"

"Indeed I did," the king replied. "He seems like a respectable individual. Educated, polite, carries himself well despite his lack of status as heir...you may find him appealing."

"I'll judge that for myself. But thank you."

"Ah, yes."

"One thing-what is this second son's name?"

"Buckminster."

Olivia was a bit stunned. She repeated the name to make sure she had heard it correctly.

"Buckminster."

"Very distinguished, isn't it?"

"Distinguished in the sense that I've never even heard such a name before. The poor boy. The name makes him sound like a moody stallion."

"You don't like him, do you?"

"I don't like his name."

"Don't be picky, Olivia."

"This is the man I'll be spending the rest of my life with. Of course I should be picky."

"Don't talk back to your father."

"I apologize."

"Very well. If Buckminster is unappealing to you, I shall confer with other royalty and nobility of the area. I want Murex to prosper, but I also want my daughter to be happy."

Olivia smiled. "Thank you."

"A happy king or queen rules their people in justice and peace. That is the sort of kingdom I want you to build. One where the poor are not forgotten, peace is chosen over war, and justice protects the rights of all. I tried to build such a kingdom in my time, but I made some mistakes along the way. From here on out, I intend to govern all the subjects fairly."

"That's a very visionary speech for a conversation between us at a banquet," Olivia said with a light laugh. "You do like making speeches, don't you, father?"

"Yes, I do."

She slid his chalice away from him. "Or perhaps it's just the wine talking."

"Very funny. It's good wine." Gabriel let out a big yawn. "Erm...perhaps a bit too good. I think I may need to retire to my bedroom. The banquet is starting to die down, anyway."

After Olivia kissed him on the cheek, Gabriel rose from his seat, handed his half-empty goblet to a servant to put away, and strode out of the banquet hall to his bedroom. (The servant didn't clean up the goblet; they drank the rest of its contents and walked away hiccuping.) Olivia left her place at the royalty table; she wanted to talk to Jay and his friends for a while.

Jay sat with Petra, Lukas, Axel, Reuben, and Nell at one end of the banquet table. Axel had a prodigious pile of bones on his plate. As he talked, he waved around large turkey femur to emphasize his speech. He almost poked Petra in the eye with it several times.

"Princess Olivia!" Everyone who saw her approach offered a small bow.

"Father says that he's going to be lifting his ban on magic. He understands your kind a bit better now, Jay. What you've done is most heroic, he says."

Jay blushed a little. "Thank you. Uh, thank him."

"I think we should make him a knight," Petra suggested. "Imagine the possibilities. Murex is vulnerable as we are still rebuilding it. But with Jay as part of the army, we could be mighty! He could use his magic to bring up walls and tear rifts in the earth to keep our intruders."

Jay held his tongue, not wanting to disappoint Petra. His magic was far from strong enough to do anything as drastic as what she was suggesting. Perhaps he could train...or perhaps he could bluff.

"That would be impressive," he said. "It would send a message to outsiders. None shall trifle with Murex."

"Exactly!" Petra patted him on the back - actually, more like an overexcited whack than a pat. Jay swung forward in his seat and almost ended up with his face in his plate.

"We could begin his training tomorrow." Olivia crossed her arms. "Under your leadership, Sir Petra, he could be a gallant knight in no time. No time at all."

Jay stood up. "Well, I have to go home soon, anyway. My mother misses me. Perhaps sometime soon we can begin the training, if at all…"

"Very well," said Olivia. "I suppose banquets are not your place of comfort, eh, Jay?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I'm more of a solitary person at heart."

Jay said good-bye to his friends and departed. Although tired from the banquet, he still had a slight spring in his step. He didn't have to walk through Murex fearing for his safety. His kind wouldn't be hunted anymore. That was cause for joy!

But why does joy have to be so short-lived?

* * *

Gabriel removed his crown and cape. He slung the cape over a chair and hung the crown on a hook. There was no need for royal regalia in the privacy of his bedroom. The room had been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original, but it still felt off. Most notably, that was because of the empty space next to him in the bed. Ellegaard's space. It served as a somber reminder of her death.

The king, feeling melancholy now, turned over in bed and stretched his arm across the unoccupied side. Cold. Lonely. He had married Ellegaard to stabilize two kingdoms, not out of any guise of romance, but over time, he had truly grown to love his queen. And now she was gone. He wondered if he should remarry, then wondered if that was a horribly improper thing to think.

He couldn't sleep. Gabriel pushed the blankets aside and took to pacing in his room. After a few minutes, he sat down at his desk and got out some fresh paper from a drawer. Dipping a quill in ink and setting it to the page, he began drafting the decree that would officially make magic legal in his kingdom again. As he wrote, he considered all the people that had been executed under his administration, due to the old proclamation barring it. Guilt pulsed deep inside him. He was a coward to ban magic in the first place.

It was no fault of the people with special powers. He'd only banned it out of cowardice about what happened with the Order of the Royals. He'd done it to spite Ivor and remove reminders of the Deurodragon. Cursed dragon! He was glad it was dead at last. A young man with magic had killed the beast, something this mighty king had never gathered up the courage to do. A boy who'd hardly seen eighteen years yet!

Gabriel blew over the finished draft so the ink would dry. After pinning it under a paperweight and setting it aside, he rose from his seat to go back to bed. Lifting the ban on magic lifted his spirits. He truly believed that this would help amend for years of suffering he'd inflicted.

Being too absorbed in one's thoughts, absorbed to the point of ignorance of one's surroundings, is dangerous. It is especially dangerous when one is a king. Occasionally over the years, vengeful men and women had sought the life of the king of Murex. One assassin had tried shooting him down with an arrow while he was making a public address. When captured, the renegade was unrepentant for his crime and boldly strode up the gallows steps. Another had tried to poison his stew. He narrowly escaped falling prey to the plot. To this day, the identity of the would-be assassin remained unknown.

Gabriel was not, however, thinking about the past attempts on his life. And in the midst of his loneliness, he didn't realize that he wasn't alone after all. A window was open. A dark shape, not a tall or strong figure, was moving silently through his room, pushing past heavy silk curtains. He or she held a small branch in their hand. On silent feet they approached their vulnerable target. Black, viscous poison dripped from the dreamshade thorns, pooling on the floor like dark blood...

The king felt something prickle on the back of his neck. The uneasy feeling of being watched. Nervously he turned to face whatever watched him…

The cloaked figure, face shadowed by their cowl, stood there. He didn't even have time to yell in surprise before they acted. Quick as a blink, they drew a poison thorn across his bare arm, cutting a deep scratch. The black poison seeped into the wound and began its fatal course. One moment of vulnerability can be a powerful man's undoing. The assassin caught the body and lowered it to the floor, so as to buy themselves a little time to escape.

"In honour of the king."

* * *

In the castle gardens below, Petra breathed in the cool evening air. Silver light gleamed from a half-moon. The burble of the fountains filled the quiet air. Tomorrow would be another day of training her men, but for tonight, she could relax. Jay, Reuben, and Nell had gone home. So had Lukas. The party died down; a steady stream of guests flowed out of the castle gates. Petra sat on a stone bench in the gardens and looked up at the sparkling sky.

She decided to say goodbye to Olivia before she went home for the night. Pushing her way against the crowd, she re-entered the castle. Servants, led by Axel, cleaned up the mess from the banquet. Axel could tell that Petra was looking for the princess, so he pointed the way to where Olivia had gone. Up the stairs went Petra, her armor clinking. Other ladies at the party wore dresses; Petra came decked in full armor. It was a great statement.

A scream from above shattered her thoughts. It had come from the top of the stairs. Petra gasped and hurried to the top floor, skipping steps on the way. The voice had sounded like Olivia, and it was coming from Gabriel's bedroom.

"What?" Petra muttered to herself, confused and very concerned.

"HELP!" Olivia screamed again. "Treason! Murder! STOP THEM!"

Bashing down the door to get in the room, Petra hurried inside. Gabriel was facedown on the floor, stiff as a board, and Olivia stood over him. She had the abject panic of someone who'd just found a dead body. There wasn't any time to react emotionally, though.

"Petra! Stop them!" Olivia shouted at the captain.

"Stop who?"

" _Them!_ " Olivia pointed out the window. Through the shadows, Petra could just make out the form of a cloaked figure running on a rooftop. She gasped in surprise, making the connection, and vaulted through the window to follow them. Her boots clambered on the roof tiles.

The cloaked assassin was fast and nimble. They suddenly leapt off the roof, forcing Petra to screech to a halt. Glancing below, she saw them grab a flagpole and swing around it, then land on a lower rooftop. Petra wouldn't be able to replicate the stunt, and it was too far below for her to jump.

"Damn it!" she cursed. "They're going to get away!"

Since the punishment for treason was death anyway, Petra decided to use the ultimate solution on the quickly-escaping mercenary. She drew a long-bladed knife from her belt and threw it at the assassin. Hopefully it would score a fatal hit.

The knife missed the cloaked villain by a cat's whisker. They were startled enough, however, to glance up with a furious expression at Petra. But distance and brevity kept the captain from getting a good look at their face. She only saw a flash of bright eyes, and soon the assassin was gone, escaping into the night with their deplorable crime.

Filling the air with angry muttering, Petra climbed back into the window. Her glowering expression told Olivia that the capture hadn't been successful. The princess knelt by her fallen father, eyes red from crying.

"The...son of a dog...got away," Petra panted. "I'm sorry, Princess."

"No!" Olivia cried. "Why?! Bloody murder!"

Gabriel stared up at the ceiling with glassy, lifeless eyes. His veins were black with poisoned blood. He'd died so quickly that his body was still warm. A shudder seemed to roll over the kingdom as Petra realized that Murex was without a king. It was never so vulnerable as it was now.

"Who did it?" the princess demanded, voice cracking. "How?"

"I...don't know," Petra stammered. "I didn't get to see their face."

"How could father have died? He doesn't have any knife or arrow wounds," Olivia said. "Just a shallow cut on his arm. How does a little scrape kill someone?"

"An assassin using unconventional means." Petra suddenly noticed the black veins, and her own blood ran cold. "Oh no. Oh, no."

"What?"

"Look…" She pointed. "His blood is _black_. I only know one thing that turns a person's blood black."

Olivia stood up. "What is it?"

"Dreamshade." Petra paced on the floor. "It's a magical plant. Jay showed me it when we first met - protected me from picking it by mistake. It has poisonous thorns. The poison taints the blood, and it's so strong that it can kill within a minute."

"Wait a minute." Olivia's expression darkened. "Dreamshade is a magical plant?"

"Yes."

The princess's fists clenched and her tone went dangerous. "My father died because of magic, then. So did my mother. The Deurodragon was magical, and it killed her. Do you know what this means, Sir Petra?"

She was afraid to ask.

"Father was mistaken. We all were mistaken." She shook her head savagely. "There's nothing good about magic. It's evil to the core. All it does is destroy. It's killed both my parents! That does it. I'm never going to let it rip away anything else I love. Not just prevention, but proactivity. I'll fight until every last drop of magic is banished from Murex."

"Olivia…" Petra held back a gasp. "Don't do that."

"Don't you counter a princess," Olivia snapped. "Enforce the law. Magic is illegal again."

"Olivia, please! Think of what your father wanted," Petra begged, thinking of Jay and Nell. "He was going to lift his ban. Look, he wrote up this amendment to repeal the ban."

The princess grabbed the draft of the amendment off the desk, then tore it in half. "The amendment be hanged. Just like we'll hang the magic users."

"No!"

"Silence!" Olivia pounded her fist on the desk. "I must take up ruling Murex now, and this is my first act as queen. Ban magic. Execute its practitioners. Expunge this plague from our borders. No more shall I let it ruin us."

"No…"

 _I have to warn Jay…_

* * *

A sick feeling persisted in Petra's stomach. Olivia's coronation as Queen should have been an event of joy for her friend, but instead, it filled her with dread. Petra had warned Jay and Nell to stay out of the kingdom, and Lukas had already left to rejoin his tribe, but she wondered if that was warning enough. Her soldiers noticed her detached demeanor. How could she train them to be effective warriors when she could hardly stand on her own feet today?

She led the men in a training drill on the castle greens. Armed with blunt wooden swords, they practiced lunging and stabbing for a more effective battle strategy. Their captain gave out lackluster instructions. Petra was almost glad when the courier showed up to interrupt the drill. She didn't want to embarrass herself any further in front of her own soldiers.

"The Queen is issuing a decree. It commands kingdom-wide attention. It would do well for her Captain of the Guard to be there."

"Of course." Petra sounded a lot more stable than she really was. She knew what this decree was going to be. But she hung up her sword and shield and went anyway. Her duties dictated it.

As with any time a royal decree went out or an execution was conducted, a large crowd thronged about the castle courtyards. The people chattered nervously and fidgeted as they stood waiting. Petra used her rank to force her way to the front.

"Out! Out of the way! Captain is approaching." They cut a wide berth for her. She stood where she could get a good view of the balcony. Within minutes, Olivia emerged from behind the purple curtain. She wore a dour, dark red dress and a fierce expression. The queen's crown sat atop her raven hair, its sharp points and sanguine garnets twinkling. Two guards, their faces hidden by the faceplates of their helmets, stood at her sides. A crier approached the balcony, holding a ribbon-tied scroll.

"Attention! Attention, everyone. The queen has issued a decree," said the crier. "Ignore it at your own peril."

The murmurs of the crowd fell silent. No-one dared not pay attention as Olivia came to the front to give her address. She looked down at her subjects with a cold glare.

"The untimely death of Murex's previous king was damnable murder. An assassin killed him with magic trickery, and for that, punishment must be meted out. The perpetrator of this monstrous crime is still alive and walking, breathing in air to which they have no right. I will not rest until they have been brought to justice for their crimes. So to do that, I had to go against the wishes of my father in order to avenge him. He sought to lift his old ban on magic; I shall press it down even harder.

"No longer will Murex simply wash out the plague of sorcerers and gypsies as they wander within its gates. Nay, we will be proactive in eliminating the blight. In that sense, I declare all forms of magic and all forms of sorcery and gypsy trickery to be illegal, immoral, and done on capital charges. It is not with a heavy heart but an elated one that I sentence all its practitioners to an early, painful, and well-deserved _death!_ "

A gasp went up from the audience. Petra shuddered; did Olivia even think of Jay as she made her speech? The queen could send her own friends to the gallows or the stake if she wasn't careful. Or did her hatred of magic override her care for her friends? What a terrible thought!

Olivia continued, "And to enforce my new statute, I have employed the highest judicial power in Murex to seek and find the evildoers and bring them to justice. I have chosen Judge Cassandra Rose for the task. Afire with passion to wipe out the scourge of magic, Judge Cassandra will do the task well."

A loud neigh drowned out the crowd's nervous mumblings. Flanked by a dozen or so of her men, the judge came charging into view. Cassandra rode on a deathly gray horse, her black cape fluttering out behind her. She had fire in her bright green eyes as she pulled the horse into a rearing position.

"Death to their kind!" she declared. "I will not stop until every last one of them is gone. Swinging from the gallows, swallowed up by the flames-I don't care how, just that they are wiped out."

Petra took a step back, breathing out sharply. She glared incredulously at Cassandra.

"Captain?" asked one of Petra's soldiers standing nearby. "Sir, are you all right?"

"Huh?" Petra blinked. "What?"

"You look very pale, sir. Are you feeling unwell?"

Petra let out a small grunt and shook her head. "Uh, no. Um...I need to go. Training is adjourned for the rest of the day."

"Wait-" he said, but Petra had already started pushing her way through the crowd. She disappeared into the swarm of people, shoving them out of the way and tripping over ankles as she tried to get out. Jay, Nell, and Lukas were really in danger now. Not only were they to put their lives in jeopardy if they simply stepped foot in Murex, but they now had a bloodthirsty judge to hunt them down.

Petra fled.


	16. Chapter 16

The creek burbled with murky water. The debris of the forest floated on its surface - fallen leaves, bubbles, chunks of moss, twigs, and flecks of bark. Jay waded in, wincing at the bite of the cold water on his bare feet. The soles of his feet sunk into the silt at the creek bottom. One step at a time, he sloshed through the lazy stream to get to its other side. There stood a cluster of aged trees, leafless and beginning to wither away to loam. A strange shelf fungi fed on the decaying wood, and Jay was here to harvest some of it. At his mother's request, of course. Jay still was confounded by Nimue's ability to transform bizarre plants from the woods into powers and effects with her sorcery. He preferred to stick to his earth magic.

Today she had asked him to pick the shelf fungi off of the "elder trees" by this particular creek in the woods. For what she needed it, he didn't know, but he was happy to run the errand anyway. He used a knife to saw the hard fungus off of the tree, sometimes striking it with his feet to break it away from the bark. After stuffing it into his satchel, he turned to leave, until he heard someone clear their throat.

Jay spun around in surprise. Slightly upstream, a young man reclined on a rock. He had long hair, dirty skin, and a familiar face.

"Brother Nature?" Jay asked.

"'Tis me," the personification of nature replied. "How have you been, lad?"

"I've been...doing well. But what are you doing here?"

"You ask a rather foolish question. Am I not everywhere in nature?"

Jay looked down, embarrassed. "Er, yes, but what I meant was, why are you here specifically? In your visible form?"

"I came with a message of much gravity and importance for you." Brother Nature jumped off the rock and stood up straight. "Something is amiss in the world. I can feel the pulses of energy from all the earth magicians. Of late, I have felt irregularities coming from this specific spot: Murex and the country surrounding it."

"What do you mean?"

"At most times, the energy I feel flows at a regular interval as the earth magicians interact with the stone and soil. Yet that is not so in Murex. What I have experience, and continue to experience, is that I feel a sharp spike of energy from a magician - a painful burst, almost - that suddenly dies away. And I feel nothing more from that individual. It concerns me very much."

"How strange," Jay mused. "Do you know what might be causing it?"

"No," Brother Nature responded. "I am not the Maker. I don't know everything. The reason I told you about this is that I believe it concerns you. Or at least, it will concern you in the near future. Something is amiss and your brethren, I fear, are being victimized by it. Exercise caution, friend."

"Hey, wait-" Jay said, but Brother Nature was already running away into the deep woods. Apparently, leaving the scene at inopportune moments was an annoying habit of his. Jay watched Brother Nature meld into the forest environs and disappear, then sighed in frustration. He slung his satchel over his shoulder and shuffled off towards home. The clouds had rolled over the sun while he was in the woods. With his bag bouncing against his hip, Jay walked back home, his pace a bit slow and pensive. He was reflecting on what Brother Nature had said. Something was amiss - it sounded as if his fellow earth magicians were disappearing. But what was the whole story? He sorted through the possibilities in his mind, and few of them were agreeable.

Crunching footsteps and rustling bushes pulled him out of his deep thought. He turned around, wondering who his visitor was this time. He saw a blur of gold and blue in the thicket and drew in, intrigued. Moments later, Nell sprang from the edge of the forest and trotted out onto the grass to meet him.

"Hello, Nell," he said to her with a smile. "Did you walk all the way here?"

"Yes." Nell looked uncharacteristically worried.

The smile fell off Jay's mouth. "Is something wrong? You look nervous."

"I-I think it might be," she responded, then glanced around. "Is anyone listening?"

Jay squinted into the distance, where his house sat in the meadow. "I don't think my mother can hear us from here. Why the secrecy?"

"Something's up, Jay, and I don't feel safe talking openly about it. Has the earth energy felt...strange to you lately?" The blond girl glanced down at the soil underfoot. "As though you can feel, say, aberrations in it?"

"It seemed slightly different than normal, but I didn't think anything of it." Jay thought back to his conversation with Brother Nature. He wondered if what Nell was leading in to tell him the same thing. Maybe Brother had even visited Nell earlier, and now she came here to tell Jay. He listened.

"So I'm not alone in this. Okay," Nell said. "Well, I can feel the same kind of aberrations in the energy from the water. I've heard that, because water heats faster than earth, those who have it as their element can feel the energy of other water magicians."

"Hmm…" Jay hummed to himself, now certain of a connection.

"It's very odd," she continued. "Just yesterday I was trying to learn how to redirect the course of a river. I already know how to change the direction of a stream, but a river is a step up from that. Anyway, I was just about to make the water flow backwards, when suddenly I felt this sharp stab of energy from another water magician. It was a bit painful, actually. Then it cut off. I didn't feel anything else from that person."

Nell looked frightened and a little sad as she recounted her story. Jay put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I'm worried that something happened to them," she concluded. "Have you felt anything like this?"

"Um…" Jesse tried to think of a good way to put it. "A...mentor...of mine told me of the same kind of phenomenon."

"Who's your mentor?" Nell asked.

"Er - Rowan," Jesse said, pulling a name out of thin air. "Anyway, Rowan told me that he felt stabs of energy that suddenly died away, too. Except he felt it from the earth, which meant that it was happening to earth magicians."

"Do you think they…" Nell trailed off, having a hard time saying it.

"I hope not," Jay replied. "Don't worry, Nell. We'll look into this."

"We will?" She perked up. "We, as in - we'll investigate it together?"

His ears felt very warm. "Sure. Definitely. I'd be fine with that. First I need to drop off this fungus to my mother, and then we can...eh, I don't know where we're going to start, but we'll figure it out then."

"All right."

They walked back to the house so Jay could finish his errand. He gave Nimue the shelf fungus she needed, told her (in sparing detail) about how he had to leave to "research" something, and introduced her to Nell. There wasn't much time to chat idly, though, and the two young people departed the house promptly.

Nell suggested that they go upriver, since that was where the magic abnormality had occurred. The river in question was the Kiel River, a long current that snaked in and out of woodlands on its course. Its water was some of the cleanest in the country, so hermits and travelers often used it to fill their canteens. To reverse its flow would have required no small amount of magic. Jay was impressed that Nell had almost accomplished it.

They didn't say much as they followed Kiel upstream. Nell played with the burbling, rippling water. Flowers and ivy perked up when Jay walked past. It would have been more fun if Reuben was there, Jay thought, but the little boy wanted to stay home. And Jay wasn't one to make Reuben go anywhere he didn't want to go.

After a short while, the forest cleared into a meadow of wheatgrass, but the river continued to pave its way through the countryside. The muted sunlight made its surface gleam a bit, like a piece of quartz in a pile of river stone. Nell watched the river with intrigue, but Jay kept looking ahead. He noticed a cabin sitting on the bank of the river and assumed that it was the residence of the water magician living upstream. Then he got closer, saw it in more detail, and felt the drop in his gut.

"Nell-" he said. "-something's wrong."

"Why? What?" Nell looked up and gasped. "What's happened here?"

Someone had set fire to the cabin - the walls were scorched and the interior was still smoldering, the dark smoke rising through the partially collapsed roof. All the windows were smashed. The door, which should have been in the front door-frame, had been ripped out and thrown into the ditch. Jay and Nell gaped at the sight, then looked at each other in horror.

"What's this?" Nell asked, distraught. "It looks like the site of a raid!"

"I have a feeling it is," Jay replied. With Nell close behind, he entered the trashed cabin, fearing the worst.

The interior was just as ransacked as the exterior. Most of the cabin's humble furniture was burnt; what hadn't been scorched by the fire was broken into pieces. The plates and bowls from the kitchen lay shattered on the floor. Whoever raided the cabin had also made off with any treasure therein - Jay found a storage-chest pried open and picked clean of the valuables inside.

"Thieves don't burn the house down," Jay said as he kicked the empty chest aside. "Something's off here, Nell. I don't like it."

"Not at all," she said. "Let's go look behind the house. Maybe we'll find more clues there."

So they did, walking out the back door of the house. Said door hung on one hinge. The cabin's backyard had a small vegetable garden, trampled and picked over by the raiders. While Jay was looking at it, he heard Nell gasp behind him.

"What? What is it?" He turned around.

An official-looking piece of paper, curiously unburnt despite the condition of the cabin, was nailed the back wall. She pulled it down and showed it to him.

"It's an official announcement - I read it." Nell's face was blanched white.

"TO WHOEVER finds this official document," said the paper, "let it be known that this is the site of an Action of Justice performed by Her Honour Cassandra Rose, High Judge of Murex, Local Minister of Justice, etc. and executed for the observance of the Laws and Legislations of Her Majesty Queen Olivia of Murex. Moreover let it be known that the prior occupants of this Residence, Daniel Tidiem and Lady Lizzie Shadow, have been placed under official arrest on charges of Practicing Magic. Mr. Tidiem was caught in the very Act of practicing Elemental Water Magic, and as such, his guilt is assured. Lady Shadow is suspected of acting as Accomplice to his henious deeds, if not guilty of her own charge of Practicing Magic. The trials of Daniel Tidiem and Lady Lizzie Shadow will be conducted on separate dates at the Murex Hall of Justice. If found guilty, both shall be administered Punishment of Death. Signed and Authorized by Her Honour Cassandra Rose, High Judge of Murex."

Judge Cassandra's signature was scrawled in dark red ink at the bottom of the page. Jay's mouth hung agape.

"I thought that Gabriel made magic legal again!" he sputtered when he could speak again. "And since when did Olivia become queen? Who's Judge Cassandra?"

"I don't know," Nell said. "I'm really scared, Jay. These people got arrested for using magic - not even sorcery, just magic - and now they could be killed for it! I live just a little bit downriver and you're not much farther away. That could have been us! We're not safe, not even out here in the countryside."

"And I've come here to warn you about that," said a familiar voice. Petra, clad in her armor, walked in on the scene with a grave expression. She looked a bit annoyed when she saw Jay holding Nell's hand, but it flickered away immediately.

"Sir Petra," Jay said. "What's happened?"

Petra took a deep breath. She related the story of what happened after Jay and Nell left the banquet. Their eyes widened with horror. They backed away from Petra, looking at her with distrust.

"Are-are you going to turn us in?" Nell squeaked. "Please, don't. We don't mean any harm…"

"No. I wouldn't do that." Petra wrung her hands. "You are my friends. I had to warn you of what happened. You can't go back to Murex."

"We can't?"

"Cassandra knows about your magic, Jay. She won't show you mercy, no matter what. It doesn't matter that you saved Murex and were a friend of the queen - as long as you have magic coursing through you, you're worthy of death in her sight."

Jay shuddered. "What are we going to do? We're not safe anywhere near Murex - look at what happened here."

"Aye," Petra said with a somber nod. "Cassandra arrested Daniel and Lizzie just a day or two ago. She's accused them of using magic. She'll put them through a trial, but it will all be for show. She sentenced them to death as soon as she put them in custody."

"That's awful," Nell said. "Those poor people! They weren't doing anything wrong."

"Try telling that to Cassandra," Petra said bitterly. "She's merciless. She's the most feared judge in Europe. Bloodthirsty, heartless...maybe I shouldn't say anything more. She might think I'm conspiring against her. Heaven knows it doesn't take much for her to suspect someone. If you so much as look like a magician or gypsy, she'd be willing to put a rope around your neck."

Petra's mention of gypsies startled Jay, because he thought of something terrible. "Oh, no! Lukas!"

"Lukas rejoined his tribe," Petra assured him. "He's safe for now."

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know, but wherever they went, I hope they stay put."

"Agreed," Jay replied. "For at least as long as Cassandra is doing her reign of terror. We have to convince Olivia to lift the ban again."

"As if there was much you could do about that. Cassandra could kill you for setting foot in Murex. She could go out here right now and come after you."

"Enough talking about her," Jay said abruptly. "So what you're suggesting is that we should go to a different country until you sort this out? I don't like that. I want to help."

"I don't want your help!" Petra snapped, then added, "I don't want you two getting hurt."

"I've never been out of the country," Jay said.

"What other languages do you speak?"

"Latin and some magic languages," Jay replied, "because my mother taught them to me. Those won't be of any use in another country."

"You can learn a language just from being around people who speak it - I think," Nell cut in, wanting to contribute. "Maybe we could head south. I've heard that the Caelum Kingdom is safe. Queen Isa of Caelum is a bit strict, but she does rule fairly."

"Caelum Kingdom?" Jay wasn't great at geography.

"It's in Italy," Petra explained. "You'd be traveling east for a while, but you could get there by land eventually."

"Your Latin wouldn't be totally useless, either," Nell said. "Italian stems from Latin."

"Well, _mirum est quod_ ," Jay quipped. "We should be on our way soon. Can't waste our time yapping. Not with an angry judge seeking us out."

Petra frowned. "I hope you're aware that I can't go with you."

"No?"

"No. I have to stay in Murex. My soldiers need me, as does Queen Olivia, and the people in general. The captain of the guard can't suddenly disappear and show up in Italy. That would be...weird."

"Right." Jay was a little disappointed, but he understood. "Send letters."

"I will if you do the same. Best of luck, friends."

Jay shook hands with Petra, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time he'd get to do so.

* * *

Low candlelight leaked from the barred windows of a cell. Inside, a young man with blue hair sat, somber. A set of irons bound his hands together. He looked very frightened. Across the hallway, Judge Cassandra Rose discussed something with one of her henchmen. The orange torchlight glinted in her green eyes.

"We looked through the entire house," the henchman whispered. "We didn't find it."

Cassandra cursed under her breath. "I thought I had a lead on him. One of them has that key."

"We found no keys in the cabin. Some valuables, which we confiscated -"

"Probably stolen," Cassandra cut in, bored.

"But not the key you seek. I'm sorry."

"We'll find it eventually," she purred. "And in the meantime, taking magic-dabblers and gypsies and rabble-rousers off the streets is a perk. I always get a thrill of the hunt from it. Plus, it will keep the Queen distracted. She's very vehement about this, isn't she? Heh-heh. I hope she's aware that one of her friends is an earth magician. Poor Jay, put in danger of his life by his own friend."

She chuckled. Had she been thinking at all when she passed that legislation? It was as Cassandra said: her love made her weak. Ah, well. At least it gave the judge an excuse to target magical people.

"If he doesn't have it, what shall we do with him?" The henchman nodded at Daniel's cell. "And the girl?"

"I don't care what you do with them. I mean, they must be executed. I need to make examples out of them. But how that's done...eh, not my concern. Daniel was caught in the act of practicing magic - we saw him controlling waves in the river with our own eyes. Also, it may be my imagination, but every time I see him, his hair seems to change color."

"It's not your imagination, ma'am. His hair really does change color. It must be magic."

"Well! There's the damning evidence right there. That makes proving it easier. Off to the pyre with him! How exciting. That's my favorite method right there."

The henchman paled a bit. "It's a bit gory. Can you imagine the pain?"

"Oh, hush. I've seen worse."

"But in all honesty, ma'am, what shall we do about the Key you've been looking for? It's the only way for you to get home - to your true world. And now we have no leads."

"Hush-shush," Cassandra replied, putting a delicate finger on his lips. "Who said we have no leads? I know these citizens. I have the suspects right here."

She passed a small slip of paper to the henchman. He took it and read it.

"Ma'am, not all of these people are magical," he replied.

She shrugged. "I suppose we'll just have to...stage a few little incidents for them, then, won't we?"


	17. Chapter 17

_In Murex, a week or so later_

The streets of Murex swelled with a celebratory air. It was the annual Midsummer Festival. Almost everyone in the kingdom took time off from their daily duties to take part in the fun. Some people even traveled there from neighboring kingdoms to celebrate. Petra had a special duty to patrol the streets and make sure the peace was kept. In most years, she had some problems with rowdy citizens, usually saps who'd had too much ale or mischief-making children. The former would go into a holding cell in the nearest dungeon until they'd sobered up, and the latter would be sent home to their parents.

This year, however, the celebration seemed much more subdued. Far fewer banners waved from rooftops and balconies. Bards played their music more quietly. Everyone trod carefully and kept an eye out for passing guards and soldiers. The memory of Queen Olivia promising a painful and well-deserved death to sorcerers, and the sight of the bloodthirsty Judge Cassandra Rose riding out to carry out that order, was still fresh in their minds. It dampened their enthusiasm.

"You have not seen her, correct?" Petra overheard one man whisper to his friend.

"Even if I have not, we must still be careful," the friend replied. "Judge Cassandra could still spring out at any moment. We know not where she lurks."

Petra bit her lip. She knew she had to uphold the law, but the queen's edict left a sour taste in her mouth. She had told Jay to flee the country for his own safety, but she wondered if he had listened to her. And Lukas's status as a gypsy left him in risk as well; gypsies were seen as two steps from being sorcerers in the sight of the law. Olivia had not thought of Jay or his magic. What if she unwittingly sent her own friend to the stake?

"I suppose I cannot think about that for now," she said to herself. "I should focus on the here and now, not the what if."

"Sir Petra!" someone shouted at her, interrupting her train of thought.

She glanced around. "Ah! Who said that?"

"Why do you not recognize the sound of my voice?" The crowd scrambled out of the speaker's way. "You ought to, seeing as though you are Captain of the Guard and I am this kingdom's highest ranking Judge. Is it not both our duties to uphold the law?"

Petra sighed, frustrated, as Judge Cassandra Rose approached. The woman sat atop a pale gray horse wearing royal regalia. She was dressed in her judicial robes. Her blood-colored hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back. She looked down her nose at Petra. Cassandra's vengeance was matched only by her arrogance.

"Judge Cassandra, I have duties to which I must attend," Petra said.

"You must come with me," the judge insisted. "Monitoring this event requires both of us."

"What is so important that both the high judge and the captain of the guard are needed?"

"Come and you will see." Cassandra started trotting away.

Petra groaned. She hated it when the judge did that. But there was no getting out of this, so she followed at Cassandra's heels. The horse kept flicking its tail and swatting Petra in the face. Cassandra took her down the main road and to a central square with a well. There, a modest crowd of people were gathered around a temporary stage made of scrap wood. Petra heard exotic flutes and tambourines.

"It's another show by those filthy gypsies," Cassandra complained, using her status to force her way through the crowd. People yelped and ducked for cover at the sight of the judge.

"You cannot arrest them if they have done nothing wrong," Petra reminded her. "Dancing, playing music, and _existing_ is not wrong."

Cassandra grunted. "Well, we need to monitor them, lest they go about doing magic tricks and stealing things. As gypsies are wont to do."

Petra rolled her eyes. They stopped and took their posts within clear view and earshot of the show upon the stage. At the moment, two dancers, one a man and the other a woman, moved in a duet to the tune of the flute. The woman's skirt swished and rippled like water as she twisted and twirled. They moved in perfect synchronization, as if they could predict each other's movements. Petra didn't recognize the dancers, but she knew who was playing the flute. Although he wore a brown cloak covering his whole body, his blond hair and pretty blue eyes were unmistakable. Her body temperature spiked. _What was he doing here?_ Nervous for him, she kept her eyes on the performance, not listening to Cassandra talking beside her.

"...They corrupt the minds of our people," Cassandra pontificated. "Distracting well-meaning citizens with their corrupt charm and that despicable dancing. I loathe it. They come from faraway lands and bring a nasty foreign influence. They know full well that magic is a critical danger to this kingdom and yet they bring it in droves. Magic tricks and sorcery, that's what they bring. And when they're not busy corrupting minds with their foul magic, they go about stealing things from right under our noses…"

"Cassandra. With all due respect, I've heard enough," Petra said stiffly.

"What, do you not believe me that these...these... _reprobates_ are a danger to our society?"

"Not nearly to the extent that you believe it."

Cassandra leaned back in the saddle and grunted in frustration again.

"Hey, wait, they're doing something new." Petra pointed to the stage.

The man and woman bowed to each other and then the audience. Lukas stood up abruptly, tossed his flute to the man, and suddenly doffed his cape. He threw it behind him, revealing the colorful rags he wore underneath. His ankles jangled with metal bracelets, and he had scarves tied to his wrists. The man with the flute struck up an energetic melody. When Lukas danced, he moved so fluidly it seemed as though his feet weren't even touching the ground. Thrusting his arms out emphatically, he waved and flicked his scarves so that they looked like ocean waves. They swirled around him gracefully. The crowd shrieked with delight and clapped.

Cassandra let out a high-pitched squeaking noise at the sight. Whether she was surprised by his costume (he was shirtless once again) or just the unexpected dancing was unclear.

"D-D-D-D-" she stuttered. "Y-You see that? This-This is what I warned you about!"

"What's so wrong about it?"

"Just the way he's cavorting about like that. No restraint! No civilized behavior! I told you gypsies were savages!"

"He's _performing_ ," Petra said, rolling her eyes. "That's what a gypsy does."

"And he's not even wearing a shirt. Immodesty." Cassandra's nose wrinkled up in disgust.

"I have seen the men in my regiment strip off their shirts to cool down in the summertime. It is not immodest." Petra rolled her eyes.

"Well, I just think that-" Cassandra was about to say something, but got interrupted.

The crowd cried out in joy again. Lukas had hopped off the stage and was now interacting with the crowd. He approached a random girl in the crowd, bowed to her, and offered her his hand. She smiled shyly, curtsied, and accepted his invitation. While the crowd formed into a circle around them and clapped, he pulled her into a bouncy waltz. Soon everyone was arranging into couples and copying their dance.

"This is what I mean," Cassandra sneered from atop her horse. "He can influence an entire crowd!"

"What?" Petra couldn't hear her whining over the people as they laughed and clapped. In fact, she was too busy watching the dance. Lukas's dancing partner squealed happily, obviously having the time of her life. Many rich girls in fancy faire dresses were vying for his attention, but he had ignored them for the servant girl in her plain dress. Her feet were bare like his, and her skin was tanned from working in the sun. But Lukas danced with her and bowed to her as if she was a princess.

"That's so cute!" Petra sighed.

"Who is that worthless wench he dances with?" Cassandra complained. "Well, at least he knows to choose a girl on his own level. The girls from the nobility ought to know better than to ask a filthy gypsy to dance with them."

"Be quiet," Petra growled to Cassandra.

"I ought to arrest that miscreant right now," the judge whined.

That did it. Petra whirled around to face her, glaring.

"Why?" she asked. "Why on God's green earth does he deserve to be arrested? Name one wrong thing he's done. Anything he has done to break the law."

Cassandra's sanguine lips puckered as she made an face of barely controlled rage. "N-N-Nothing, I _guess_. But I'll be watching him."

"You know, maybe there is another reason why you are so interested in what Lukas does." Petra looked up at Cassandra with a sly expression. "You seem awfully invested in watching him."

"Do you mean what I think I mean?" Cassandra's brow wrinkled in suspicion.

"Oh, I understand your temptation, Cassie," Petra taunted. "It sure is mighty difficult to resist the allure of such a _man_. He is quite a looker, isn't he?"

Cassandra's scowl deepened. "Shut. Up."

Petra smirked. "Just look at that blond hair, those blue eyes…"

"Shut _up_!"

Petra turned aside from Cassandra, laughing heartily. She didn't notice the toxic stare the judge aimed at her from behind. Cassandra's grip on her horse's reins tightened.

"This is no laughing matter, Petra!" the judge spat. "Murex is in _danger_ , don't you see it? Danger! Are you going to let my-err, the queen's domain be overrun by lowborns and magicians?"

"You're worrying too much," Petra said, not really listening. "It's my job to arrest people causing trouble."

"Don't bother," Cassandra muttered, dismounting her horse. "I'll do it myself."

"Whatever you say," Petra replied, not realizing what the judge actually said. By the time it clicked, Cassandra was already marching over to Lukas. Petra hurried after her to intervene.

The dance fell flat as the judge approached. The people halted and looked around uncomfortably. Some fled the scene or ducked into nearby buildings to hide from Cassandra. Lukas gently shooed his dancing partner away to keep her from getting tangled in the confrontation. He stood alone in the middle of the circle, his scarves hanging like surrender flags from his wrists.

"Good morning, ma'am," he said.

"It's two in the afternoon," Cassandra retorted. "I knew gypsies weren't good at much other than dancing and stealing and causing trouble, but I didn't realize they couldn't tell time, either."

Lukas frowned slightly at her insult and asked, "Are you…"

"Cassandra Rose, High Judge of Murex," she finished.

He held out his hand. "My name's Lukas."

She looked at it, but didn't shake it. "Quite. It is my duty to uphold the laws, especially the statutes laid down by the new leadership of Murex."

"Yes, I heard about what happened to Gabriel," the blond boy said. "What a tragic turn of events. I'm so sorry that happened. Godspeed to him."

"Well, I hope - for your sake - that you have no involvement in those events." She glared him in the eye. "The assassin evaded us, but it is my dream to capture him soon...and bring him to justice."

"The assassin was a man?"

"I assume it was a man," the judge said dismissively. "Generally, criminals are male. But I suppose a woman could have perpetrated such a monstrous crime."

Petra held back. She didn't know what Cassandra was playing at, and intervening now might be a tactical mistake.

"So...um...is something wrong, Your Honour?" Lukas asked after an awkward pause. "I...I don't think I was doing anything wrong."

"Few ever do," the judge sneered.

"Is there some new law against public dancing? Forgive me if there is - my tribe is not accustomed to the new leadership - our performances were just fine under Gabriel's laws."

Petra gave Cassandra a sideways glare. The both of them knew full well that the presence of gypsies themselves wasn't illegal - only highly suspicious. If Cassandra misled Lukas on that technicality, she herself could get an accusation of perfidy.

"No, it is not the dancing that is the problem, although it is a tad too flamboyant for my tastes. It is this rabble-rousing that's the problem. You're getting the crowd too excited."

"I thought they were just having a good time."

"I don't care what you think! The only thing that matters it the facts." She poked him in the chest. "You and your kind disrupt everything. You drive your caravans in here and put on wild shows to excite the citizens. Just a handful of you can practically control a crowd's behavior! We can't have crowds influenced and incited by stimuli like that, especially not at such a time as this."

"At a midsummer celebration?"

"No, you idiot. A time of political instability. One leadership out, and in a deplorable manner at that, and a new leadership in. The people are adjusting. They're uncomfortable and easily manipulated. Hardly a time for gypsies to come in and disrupt things!"

Petra had to admit that she had a bit of a point. Still, she was unfairly putting it all on Lukas. She hadn't said a thing to his companions, nor had she accosted any other gypsy groups like this lately.

"I'm very sorry, ma'am," he stammered. "I wasn't aware our performances could have such an effect."

"Apologizing is not enough," she shot back. "Don't you worry, _Lukas_...you'll know the law soon enough. You're under arrest."

"What?" He backed up as Cassandra reached out to grab his arm.

"Cassandra, you don't need to do that," Petra piped up.

"Silence, Sir Petra. You should be helping me with this."

"Run, Lukas. Go for the church!"

Cassandra glared indignantly at Petra, and Lukas took advantage of the moment to bolt away. The crowd parted to let him through safely, but closed back up on Cassandra. Still, she pursued him, shoving people aside to get through. The fleeing gypsy boy ran down the street, dodging around booths and tents. Some nearby people, feeling sorry for him, knocked over the booths as the judge chased him. Cassandra stumbled over the debris in her path, slowing her down. Lukas was headed toward the city cathedral. As a cathedral is on the Creator's land and not the state's, the judge's jurisdiction ended there. Anyone who went inside the Murex cathedral could claim sanctuary, and Lukas intended on doing just that.

Realizing that he was going to claim sanctuary, Cassandra rushed forward to grab him before he could get inside the church. But he was used to running and hiding and she wasn't, so he got away. He slipped through the doors and stumbled into the main room of the cathedral.

"Sanctuary," he said breathlessly as Cassandra halted at the door. "I claim sanctuary."

"So be it," she growled. "Well played, street rat."

She turned and walked away. Lukas barely had time to breathe out in relief before Petra entered the cathedral. Her boots made a clopping sound on the tiled floor.

"Leave me alone, Petra," Lukas said, backing up. "I claimed sanctuary. You can't arrest me in here."

"I know that," she replied, "and I didn't come here to arrest you. I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Where have you been?"

"Well, first my tribe went through Switzerland. Then we traveled through Caelum, hoping that we'd have better luck there. But we didn't, really, so we thought we'd go to Germany, but we couldn't stay. In the end, we decided to revisit Murex. Maybe that wasn't quite a good idea."

"You're probably right," Petra sighed. "Anyway, no offense, but you made a mistake in coming back here. Everyone's been very paranoid ever since Gabriel got murdered. Olivia outlawed magic again."

"What? I thought the ban was going to be lifted?"

"Did no-one tell you _how_ Gabriel got murdered?"

"I hear rumors, but they conflict."

Petra sighed heavily. "An assassin broke into his room and poisoned him with dreamshade."

"Dreamshade, sir?"

"It's a magical plant. Jay told me about it. Depending on how much is administered, it can kill within a minute. Because both her father and her mother were killed by magic, Olivia is certain that magic itself is evil. And she wants to destroy it entirely."

Lukas's blue eyes grew wide with horror. "But what about Jay and Nell? They have magic. I thought she knew about their powers!"

"She didn't have them in mind, I guess." Petra seemed just as upset as Lukas did. "I don't know what to say. I don't know if I should remind her of her friends or not. What if she hates magic more than she cares for them?"

"I don't know, either."

"When I met them out in the meadows, I told them to leave the country. They went to Caelum."

"Caelum? I was just there with my tribe. They stayed there."

"Really? They did?" Petra glanced over her shoulder. "Then who were that man and woma-"

"I traveled back to France with a different tribe," Lukas explained, seeming very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "My old tribe and I...we had an, um, disagreement."

"What do you mean?"

Lukas sighed. "The road to Caelum also goes to Rome, if you travel far enough upon it. Were you to take that road, you'd cross paths with many monks and nuns making pilgrimages to Rome. We were low on money and hungry, so Aiden suggested that we hold up some of the monks and nuns to provide for ourselves. Gill and Maya went along with him. I didn't want to do that. Stealing is wrong, and those pilgrims don't have much to begin with. I couldn't bring myself to participate in the highway robbery."

"And when you refused?"

"Aiden kicked me out of the group. Left me stranded in Caelum without a coin or crumb to my name. Thank the Creator I found a different gypsy tribe to take me in. So I went back to Murex with them."

Petra put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Lukas. I wish you didn't have to scramble for a living like this."

"It's my lot in life," he said. "But thank you."

"Don't worry," she consoled him. "They'll care for you in the cathedral, and you're safe from Cassandra. I'll...I don't know what I'll do, but somehow we can figure out a way to solve things."

"I know you can do it."

With that, Petra shook hands with him and left. Lukas padded quietly around the sanctuary, observing the long lines of benches and the saintly stained glass windows. Candles burned low in lampstands, giving the church a soft orange glow. It was built to be a house of peace.

But what no-one else knew was that Cassandra hadn't given up when Lukas took sanctuary. Now she lurked inside the church building. While he had been talking to Petra, she had slipped through the shadows and hid behind pillars. And now that he was alone, she had her chance.

Cassandra lunged out suddenly and grabbed Lukas's arm from behind. Once she had him captured in her embrace, she nuzzled her face up to his and smirked at him. Lukas winced and tried to writhe out of her hold.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily, blond bairn," she purred to him. "I can wait until you run out of time and places to hide. Cassandra always gets her man... _one way or another_."

She tightened her grip. Lukas stiffened as she ran her hand over his shoulder and under his jaw.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, still trying to escape her hold.

Her voice went dangerously soft. "Oh. I was just imagining that beautiful, limber body tied to the pyre."

He broke away from her unwanted embrace. "That's not what you were imagining!"

Cassandra looked taken aback, but then she narrowed her acid green eyes and tipped her chin up. She hid her hands in her robe sleeves.

"Hmm. Perceptive," said she. "Well, this is one problem you won't be able to dance your way out of, gypsy. Sooner or later you will have to leave your sanctuary. And when you do, I'll be waiting outside for you."

Cassandra turned aside and strolled out of the church, feeling too good about herself. Lukas shuddered and rubbed his hands down his arms. He paced the floor, his bare feet slapping on the tiles. The noise echoed in the spacious sanctuary. Besides that sound and the low tones of some monks practicing their chants, it was totally quiet in the church.

But he couldn't calm down, not even in a peaceful church, for as long as Cassandra lurked outside in wait of him. Lukas knew that she wanted to either capture and execute him...or she wanted something _else_ from him.

Muttering angrily to himself, he sat down on a bench in the back row and buried his face in his hands. He couldn't tell if the cathedral was his refuge or his prison. Maybe both. And who was to say they'd let him stay here forever? Cassandra's words bounced around in his mind.

 _Sooner or later, you'll have to leave your sanctuary. And then I'll be waiting for you._

A soft hand laid upon his shoulder. He looked up. A kind-faced woman in a habit looked down at him with concern.

"Hello, child," she said in a dulcet voice. "You seem afraid."

"I'm not scared-" Lukas started to protest, but then he fell quiet.

"Of the judge? Few are not. Rise, child." She pulled him to his feet. "I see you have taken shelter in our cathedral."

They walked side by side in the back of the cathedral. Amber light spilled through the stained glass overhead.

"Cassandra tried to arrest me. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was just being who I was, and she came after me. I'm not magical. There isn't a speck of witchcraft in me."

"I can see as much," said the deaconess. "You're only a young man trying to survive. Life is cruel to you."

"Is it ever." His shoulders sagged. "What does she have against people who are different?"

"I do not know for certain, child. But the world teems with wolves in sheep's clothing. People who claim they are just and righteous, but are full of filth on the inside. They use their 'devotion to uprightness' as a mask for their stone hearts."

"And Cassandra is one of them?"

The deaconess didn't respond to that. Instead she said, "Stay as long as you need sanctuary, child."

"My name is Lukas."

"Lukas. Pretty name. As I said, stay as long as you need, Lukas. We have beds and bread for those seeking refuge. And don't feel as though you are alone. Friends are closer than you think. There is still good left in this world."

Lukas just hoped that was true. And that those friends of his, wherever they were, would stay safe.

 **A/N: I'm half-wondering if Part I was Jay's story and now Part II is Petra's or Lukas's story...narrative is a funny thing.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Dratted post-Christmas slump and Sims 2 addiction...I'm sorry. Also, writer's block.**

 _In Caelum_

Jay and Nell had spent far too long bouncing in the backs of farm wagons rolling along the trade routes. On foot, the travel was long, exhausting, and torturous to their bare feet, so Nell suggested that they hitchhike to Caelum instead. Jay swallowed his pride and agreed. For a few coins, farmers allowed the young man and woman to ride in the backs of their carts as they took their products to market. They'd lie down in the cart bed and pull the canvas tarp over themselves as the farmer drove his cart along the trade routes.

Sometimes they'd be squished between sacks of flour or bags of vegetables; other times, the wherewithal was boxes of textiles or bundles of odd-smelling herbs. On one unlucky ride, they were picked up by a chicken farmer and had to share the cart bed with a gaggle of noisy, fussy hens. Jay got pecked repeatedly and made hens angry by accidentally crushing their eggs.

At last, they found themselves bouncing in the back of a wagon loaded with bottles of olive oil, almost at Caelum. The tradesman held the reins for the wagon oxen and hummed folk tunes to himself. His passengers sat languid in the back, looking absently at the Italian countryside.

"How long has it been?" Jay asked groggily, attempting to lie down on a pile of hay in the floor of the wagon. Hay for cushioning the glass bottles, most likely.

"I don't know. I'm not very good at keeping time," Nell replied, looking no better. Both of them were coated in a fine layer of dirt and smelled like each of the farm goods they'd shared rides with. They hair was so unwashed, they looked like they'd been anointing themselves with the tradesman's oil.

"I feel like I've traveled through every corner of Italy by this point."

"We almost have. Caelum is closer to Sicily than it is to Murex. But we're almost there."

"Wonderful." It was hard to tell if Jay was being sarcastic or not.

"I need a bath."

"That's the first thing I'm doing when we get to Caelum. Going down to the nearest river and washing up. I know I have earth magic, but I can't live in filth."

"I haven't been able to conjure up any water, either," Nell said. "Otherwise I would have let us clean up a long time ago. I don't know - I feel a bit sick from all this traveling. It's affecting my magic."

"Yeah, mine too. My connection to the earth feels weak. I bet it will get better once we touch down and get a bit more re-oriented."

The wagon jolted to a stop. Jay and Nell made "Uh!" noises as they lurched forward suddenly. The wagon driver shouted something in Italian to his oxen to make them stay put, then dismounted his seat and went to unload the cart. He pulled off the tarp, revealing his listless passengers.

"Out, please," he requested. The gates of Caelum stood a small distance away. They had arrived.

Nell and Jay made murmurs of assent and crawled out of the cart. Although they had already paid to hitchhike on his cart at the beginning of the ride, Jay handed the merchant a copper coin as a tip. The merchant tipped his hat to them, climbed back into his seat, flicked the reins, and drove his cart away.

"Well, we're here," Nell said, looking at the tall gates. They were clad in bronze and had sculptures of clouds and angels at the top. Banners with stylized suns hung off the stone walls and fluttered in the warm breeze. Stately cork oaks and carob trees grew along the perimeter of the wall.

"That we are. But first-" Jay looked behind him and saw a small wooded area with a river running into it. "-a bath, like I said. I am not going into Caelum looking like this."

Nell wasn't going to do that, either, so they both trekked a short distance into the woods to clean up. Jay waded into the river for a bath first, with Nell standing at the edge of the woods to keep watch. There wasn't really anything for which to keep watch, of course, but she needed an excuse to stay away while he washed up. When Jay was done, he switched places with her.

Nell took far longer than Jay to take her bath. He got bored and sat on a rock, listening to her splash and sing to herself in the distance. Now that he was clean, his head felt much clearer and his magic connection stronger. To test it, he molded the rock he sat upon into a proper chair shape. He generated a set of fresh clothes for himself out of ivy and flowers. It gave him a soft floral smell.

"Good to have you back," he said, as if his magic was a living being. "I just hope I don't have to hide my magic in Caelum."

"We should play it safe before we go throwing magic around," Nell said, suddenly standing behind him.

Jay yelped and jumped up. Nell had sneaked up on him while he was playing with his magic. Her clean skin and clothes were practically glowing, and she gave off a strong minty scent (probably from some salve she used in the water.) She had unbraided her hair, and now it fell in golden waves down her neck and back. Jay tried not to stare in admiration.

"What do you mean, Nell?" he asked, somewhat absently.

"I mean that it might not be safe," Nell explained. "I haven't been to Caelum since I was a little girl. Queen Isa had just taken the throne then. Much can happen in fifteen years."

"Fifteen years?" Jay inquired, just realizing that he'd never thought to ask Nell's age. "Wait - how old are you?"

"I'm eighteen," Nell replied.

"Why, I'm eighteen too."

"A pair of new adults."

"I still feel like a child inside."

"I know I'm still a child inside," Nell said, chuckling. "There's a part in each of us that never grows up."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's right, isn't it?" Jay grinned. "And it's nice to have that. It gives you a bright spot in your life."

"Speaking of bright spots-" Nell squinted at the gates. "-that is some shiny bronze. Do they polish it every day?"

"And leave them open during the day, too," Jay said, pointing at them. "We should squeeze through there without a problem."

They did. The gates were much too heavy for the young people to move on their own, but whoever tended those gates had left them slightly ajar. Both Jay and Nell were slim enough to slip through the opening. The gate opened up to a dusty village square framed by low-walled, red brick buildings. They had thatch for roofs and wooden lattice for windows. A chorus of the villagers' voices bounced off the walls, in several languages and dialects.

"My goodness," Nell exclaimed as they walked down the cobbled streets. "It's almost as diverse as Rome here. I suppose that's because Caelum does a lot of dealing in trade. Expect to run into many merchants here."

"Um...what do I do if I do run into one? Will they try to sell me something?"

"Of course they will. That's how they make a living. Just say no politely."

"I'm going to have to do that." Jay shook his satchel, which was much lighter than it was when they first headed off to Caelum. "We're almost broke. Too much hitchhiking."

"Eesh."

They continued walking, but only for a few more minutes. Jay started to get very impatient. He fidgeted with his satchel and smoothed his hair, which was practically shoulder-length by now.

"Well, here we are in Caelum." Jay gestured at the buildings. "Now what?"

Nell froze. "Um…"

"I thought you were going to decide what we'd do when we got here."

"I wasn't thinking far enough ahead."

"Nell…"

"I'm sorry, Jay! I didn't think we'd get this far."

Jay sighed. "That's problematic. We have almost nothing on hand at the moment. Can't pay a rent. Staying at an inn is out of the question."

Nell muttered unhappily, then said, "I guess it's on the streets for us."

"We are _not_ going to sit on the corners and beg. I still have some dignity."

"We're also _not_ going to pick pockets," Nell countered, giving him a stern look. "I'm not criminal and neither are you. Queen Isa _hates_ thieves."

Jay mumbled to himself. "No-one is going to hire two foreign street rats."

"We have to find some way to support ourselves. You heard what Petra said. We might have to stay here for months."

Jay crossed his arms and heaved out a big, heavy sigh. "Fine. We'll figure something out. I'm sorry for getting testy with you."

"It's all right. Here?" Nell held out her arms to him.

They shared a quick hug to make up and continued on their way. This part of the street was shaded by clusters of carob trees, a relief from the sun. Still, the gritty road hurt Jay's feet. Nell had strips of cloth wound around her feet to protect them from the ground, but Jay needed to keep his bare to have the best connection to his magic. He wondered if it might be better to sacrifice that convenience just to have some relief for his much-abused feet.

Eventually Jay felt a bit hungry. While traveling to Caelum, Jay and Nell had kept themselves fed on stuff harvested from the wilderness. They'd pick acorns, dig up wild tubers - anything that would keep for a while in Jay's satchel or Nell's pockets. But now, they were out of foraged food and would have to either beg for or trade for some. A handful of copper coins jingled in the bottom of Jay's satchel - enough to trade for a fish and not much else.

"We could buy a fish," he muttered, closing up his satchel.

"Uh-uh," Nell replied.

"Why? You don't like fish-Oh." Jay realized why she didn't like that idea.

Nell nodded. "Water creatures are friends to my kind. It would feel like betrayal to eat one."

"I understand that. Um...I bet we could get a piece of bread with this."

"Sure. There's a baker's stall over there." Nell pointed to a cluster of wooden shacks in a grassy area. A dusty back road ran nearby. As Jay and Nell approached the grassy area, a noise of creaking wheels interrupted their thoughts. They turned to see what was going on.

A procession of stoic-faced men and women trod along the road, wearing heavy dark robes. The women had small hood-like things covering their hair, and small wooden crosses dangled from the men's necks. The squeaking wheels came from the noise of carts being pushed along by some of the road-travelers.

"Whose are these people?" Jay whispered.

"Pilgrims," Nell replied. "They must be on their way to Rome. Passing through Caelum first."

"Why Rome?"

"It's a holy city. These are monks and nuns."

"Oh...I think I get it."

"Hey, I have an idea." Nell edged toward the procession of the devout. "We could ask them to share some of their food."

"Don't be crazy. They won't help us." Jay took a step back, unnerved by their somber dress and stoic expressions.

"Yes, they will," Nell insisted. "Charity is a virtue. A mission to help the needy. Excuse me, sir?"

"Nell, wait!" Jay said, but it was too late. His friend had already approached group of pilgrims to panhandle. Jay blushed a fine shade of red. He backpedaled and hid behind a tree, hoping that they hadn't noticed him.

"Is she trying to humiliate me?" he grumbled. "I still have some dignity!"

He heard Nell talking indistinctly to the monks and nuns. Judging by her bright tone, the conversation seemed to be friendly. He glanced around the tree, just in time to see Nell approaching with something in a small bag.

"What's that?"

Nell opened it up and showed it to him. Some biscuits and coinage rattled around in the bottom of the bag. She smiled at Jay with a playfully smug expression.

"You doubted me," she said.

"How did you do that?"

"Oh, André over there and his brothers are from France, too," Nell gestured casually in their direction. "He was happy to help. He's actually passing through Caelum on his way to Nazareth and Jerusalem, not just Rome - what a trooper! He gave us some food and money because charity is a virtue and-"

"But you didn't have to panhandle!"

"So you'd rather be hungry? Or eat musty fish?"

"Well, no, but…"

"But nothing." Nell handed him a biscuit. "Eat up."

"Fine. Thanks." He nibbled on it. It wasn't bad for a piece of food intended to keep in the bottom of a satchel for weeks. Were monks good bakers or something?

He didn't get to ponder it for long, though. He spotted a few shadowy figures moving through the woods on the other side of the road. They were human-shaped and moved clandestinely, catching his intrigue.

"Hey, Nell," he said, lagging behind. "Do you see something?"

She stopped walking. "What?"

"I think I see some people walking through those trees over there. Look! There they go again! What are they doing?"

"I don't know. Do you think they're here to cause trouble?"

The shadowy figures held still for a minute, lingering behind the tree cover. The procession of pilgrims passed by, and then came a group of merchants on their way to market. Obviously wealthier than the self-denying devout, the merchants had large wagons pulled by mules and horses. They were on their way to the nicer part of Caelum.

Jay and Nell took shelter behind some bushes. The shadowy figures, seeing the more opulent travelers, seemed to sense an opportunity. They waited until a straggler appeared, a wagon lagging well behind the others. With a yell, they burst from their cover and cornered the merchant. He cried out in fear as the they swarmed around his wagon. A robbery was going down.

"Don't move," snarled one bandit, a young man with brown hair and acid-green eyes. He seemed slightly familiar.

"Wait!" protested the merchant, but another robber (a girl with long brown hair) jumped him and pulled him out of his seat. He landed in the road dust, coughing.

"Stay on the ground or die," the first robber threatened, flashing a long knife at him. "Gill. Maya. Clean out the cart."

The girl who de-seated the merchant, plus a boy with a bushy beard, climbed onto and into the wagon like a pair of spiders. There was a din of clattering and breaking noises as Gill and Maya went through the cart's contents.

"Oh my gosh," Nell whispered to Jay from the safety of the bushes. "That poor guy is being robbed! We have to help him."

"It might be dangerous," Jay said. "These bandits have weapons."

"What's the hold-up?" the first robber asked Maya, crossing his arms.

"This guy has a load of nothing, Aiden," Maya complained. "Not finding anything of value."

"Well, get to it. We have to have some return on this effort." Aiden kicked the merchant back down when he tried to climb to his feet.

"This would be easier if we still had Lukas with us, boss," Gill said, chucking an empty crate into the street.

Aiden scoffed and spit in the dirt. "Please! He's been useless for robberies. Every time I tried to do a hold-up, he whined about how it was wrong. It's because he heard the priest jabber about how stealing is sin and whatnot. We shouldn't have taken sanctuary in that church."

Jay put his hand over his mouth to keep from gasping in surprise. This was Lukas's tribe...but Lukas wasn't with them. He started to worry about his friend. If Lukas wasn't with his tribe, where had he gone?

"Yeah, but he was good at finding the valuable stuff when the saps hid it away. It was as if he could smell gold or something. Like a tracking dog."

"Well, now the only gold he has is that stupid hair of his. He wouldn't make good use of it. His fault. I kicked him to the curb for a reason."

"He was just dead weight," Maya agreed.

Jay's fists clenched. He needed to have a _chat_ with Aiden. Before Nell could stop him, he scooped up a sharp-edged rock and sprung from the bushes. He ran at Aiden.

"What the-Who are you?" Aiden demanded as Jay charged up to him.

Jay tackled him to the ground. Aiden's head bounced against the dirt, and the knife flew out of his hand. Aiden retaliated by lashing out with slaps and punches. Gill and Maya paused their raiding to stare. The merchant, taking advantage of the distraction, rose to his feet and jumped onto his wagon to drive it away.

"Hey! Stop that!" Maya shouted.

"The hell? What are you attacking me for?" Aiden growled. "Who even are you?"

"You put my friend in danger. Where did he go?"

"Who the hell are you talking about?"

Gill yanked Jay off of Aiden and thrust him to the ground. Jay fought back by kicking at Gill, then going after Aiden again. Jay knocked Aiden to the ground and slapped him a couple of times. Nell ran in to either break up the fight or help Jay, but Maya shoved her to the ground.

"Where did Lukas go?" Jay demanded.

Aiden, batting away Jay's hands, shot back, "I don't know and I don't care! I kicked the blond idiot out. He can figure out his own place to go."

"No, you can't do that. He's in danger now. Cassandra Rose is looking for him."

"Who?"

"The judge!"

"Not following."

"Ugh, never mind that! Just tell me where Lukas went."

"No idea, so get off my case." Aiden brought up a knee and jabbed it into Jay's gut. Jay fell sideways and landed on the ground, wincing from the pain. While Jay was down, Aiden scrambled to his feet.

"Let's get out of here!" he shouted at his companions. "This guy's nuts. And look out!"

Jay, spitting blood out of his mouth, rolled to his hands and knees and glanced up. A group of uniformed men were coming down the road towards them.

"Halt in the name of the law! Queen Isa's service. Public brawling is against the law."

"Jay instigated it," Aiden said, pointing at the wheezing boy on the ground. "He jumped me on the road and tried to rob me. I had to fight back to defend myself."

"That's not true!" Jay shot back. It was half true. Jay _had_ started the fight, but not for the reasons that Aiden claimed. The constables studied the dirty group of vagabonds in bewilderment. They had a habit of believing whoever looked the cleanest and most upstanding in the group, but everyone present seemed to be a scruffy troublemaker.

"Um…" droned the guy who seemed to be in charge. "Okay, men. Let's question these...whatever these are...separately. See if the stories match up."

So they did. Aiden, Maya, Gill, Nell, and Jay were all detained and taken to separate areas on the road to be questioned by a constable. As might be expected, the constables got two consistent stories: one side claimed that Jay had tried to rob Aiden, while the other said that Aiden had been attempting the robbery and Jay had attacked him to stop it.

"That's what happened," Jay insisted. "Now will you please untie us?"

Everyone had their wrists bound in a length of rope. Jay hated the feeling of the hemp chafing against his skin. Next to him, Nell stood squirming, trying to wriggle free.

"The facts are clear," said one of the officers. "There are three people saying that Jay started the fight and two who say that the situation is Aiden's fault. Three is more than two."

Jay struggled not to roll his eyes. Were these fools really giving him a math lesson?

"Therefore, the majority says that the one at fault here is Jay, with Nell as his accomplice. In our field, the majority witness is usually right. So…"

Aiden, Gill, and Maya were untied. Jay and Nell were detained.

"You two are under arrest, on charges of robbery and public brawling."

"No!" Jay protested. "Aiden and his friends are lying! I'm not the one to blame here. And Nell especially isn't. You're not being fair."

The constable tightened his grip on Jay's arm, making him wince. "Excuse me? You're going to tell me how to do my job?"

"Sorry," Jay squeaked. "But-"

"Silence. You're under arrest, and that is final. Off you go."

Jay got a shove from behind, ordering him to start walking. He and Nell were being led off to who knows where in Caelum. Did it ever sting - not only could Jay not find out where Lukas had gone, but he also was being falsely accused! He looked over his shoulder to glare at Aiden.

Aiden, after making sure that the constables weren't watching, smirked. Mockingly he waved good-bye at Jay, then scurried away with his two stupid friends. Just like that, they got away with their crime.

No justice in Caelum that day!


	19. Chapter 19

_Judex crederis esse venturus_

 _In te, Domine, speravi_

 _Non confundar in aeternum_

 _Salvum fac populum tuum._

A trickle of cold water spilled on Jay's head. He frowned and brushed it away. Several other spots on the ceiling of his cell leaked. He couldn't believe how badly this had ended. Here he and Nell had gone to Caelum to seek shelter while Judge Cassandra rampaged across Murex, and now they were in prison anyway. Across the aisle, Nell likewise sat in a small stone cell. They were in the belly of the palace dungeon, waiting for their trial.

"I'm innocent," Jay muttered. "We aren't the ones in the wrong."

"How are we going to convince them of that?" Nell asked, leaning against the bars of the cell door.

Jay stood up and started pacing, although he didn't have much room to do it. "Well, you said that Queen Isa is a fair ruler. Right?"

"Right," Nell replied. "She wouldn't throw anyone in prison for good until they were convicted. She might be strict, but she is just."

"The constables arrested us because we were outnumbered when giving witness. Aiden and his two lackeys told them the story where I was the one in the wrong, and us two told the truth. They believed the majority."

"I know that. Don't rehash what I already know."

"Stay with me here. I have a theory. Isa may be convinced that we're innocent if she believes the accuracy of our testimony over the three testimonies from Aiden and his cronies."

"That sounds right. From the rumors I've heard, she judges based on that." Nell was quiet for a moment, then got an idea. "Ah! I've got it! I know how we can prove our testimony is true."

Jay looked up. "How so?"

"Detail," she explained. "Have you ever noticed that, if someone goes into details on a story, it seems more accurate? They could give such a detailed testimony because it really happened and they really were there."

"So you think we should be as precise with our testimony as possible."

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"I...think it could work. I don't really have a better idea."

"Great. So how much do you remember?"

Jay tried to visualize it. The road, the woodlands, the merchant and his wagon, how Aiden, Gill, and Maya crept along in the shadows...The images were still clear in his mind.

A heavy door creaked open, and footsteps thumped on the floor. Jay and Nell scooted up to their cell doors and peeked out. An armored guard marched down the corridor towards them, swinging a keyring in his meaty hand.

"Jay and Nell?" he asked.

"That's us," they replied.

He unlocked both doors. "Time to go. The judge waits."

"Fine." The two stepped into the hall and were herded in front of the guard. He led them out of the dungeon to the courtroom. Jay and Nell walked in total silence, steeling themselves for the trial. They knew they were innocent, but Isa didn't know that, and years' worth of freedom was at stake here.

They didn't pay much attention to the layout of the castle, and in a few minutes, they found themselves in the courtroom, being pushed to a defendant stand by the guards. The courtroom was a stuffy, wood-paneled room. Some Italian words were carved as decoration into the woodwork; Jay assumed them to mean things like "justice" and "integrity." The jury box was off to the side of the room. The judge's pulpit soared over the rest of the seats.

When Jay and Nell were led into the room, twelve jurors were already seated in the box, pens poised on papers to take notes. They watched as the two young adults meekly took their seats at the defendant's podium.

Jay dared a look over at the prosecutor's podium. A middle-aged man walked in and took a seat there, apparently going to be the prosecutor. He took out a small piece of parchment and looked at it, apparently trying to understand what the terms of the case were.

"Attention! All rise!" said a bailiff. The judge had entered the room and taken a seat...and they were none other than Queen Isa herself! Jay and Nell sprung to their feet.

Queen Isa commanded respect with her very appearance. She was a fantastically tall and strong woman, wearing a gold and black gown that shimmered in the lamplight. A pointed gold crown was nestled in her black hair. She regarded Jay and Nell with piercing green eyes.

"I have heard the terms of this case," she said. "You were placed under arrest on charges of robbery and public brawling."

"Those are the terms, yes," Jay said, his voice a little shaky.

"According to this report from the constable." The prosecutor waved the parchment. "The complaint states that Aiden, no surname given, was assaulted on the Road Vista Bella by these two individuals. Jay was apprehended in the middle of tackling Aiden to the ground and beating on him. A clear case of public brawling..."

Queen Isa raised an eyebrow. The jurors murmured and glanced at one another. Jay felt his body heat spike.

The prosecutor went on. "When questioned by the constables, Aiden and his two friends gave a consistent story. Jay assaulted Aiden on the road, unprompted by any word or action by Aiden, and attempted to rob him. Aiden engaged in self-defense to ward off his attacker."

Nell's fists clenched up. "That's not what happened."

Isa glared at her. "I believe I shall be the one to determine that, young lady."

Nell backed down. "Sorry."

To the prosecutor, the queen said, "How many witnesses were there, again?"

"Two, not including Aiden. Also, the constables saw the tail end of the fight."

"And I am certain that the defense has a different story." Isa looked over at Jay and Nell. "Let us hear it."

Jay glanced quickly at Nell. She nodded, prompting him to speak for the group. He stood tall and looked the queen right in the eye.

"Thank you. The things that Aiden told the constable were a lie. He was the one who tried to commit a robbery. The fight started when I attempted to stop him. When the constables arrived, they thought I was assaulting him. They arrested Nell and I, and Aiden got away. This is true, I promise. I'd swear on the Bible."

"I would hope you would tell the truth in court," Isa said. "Perjury is a terrible offense."

"I know. That is why I am telling you the truth."

Isa didn't seem convinced. "If you and your...whatever her relation is to you...are convicted of this offense, you will be imprisoned for twenty years. We take crime seriously in Caelum. I would suggest improving your defense strategy, because you are coming off as very guilty for the time being."

"But I said I was telling the truth!"

"You _said_."

A bit of sweat beaded up on Jay's forehead. This wasn't working, and he didn't know what else to do. Isa scowled at him, her intense green gaze cooking him from the inside out. Think of something, Jay!

While he was wondering what to do, some assistant approached the judge's pulpit. "Your Honour, a witness has requested to testify."

"For whom are they testifying?" Isa inquired.

"For the truth, ma'am," replied the servant.

The queen smiled. "Well now. He knows how to answer that sort of question. All right. Bring him in. Let him speak."

"As you wish." The assistant left the room and returned shortly with the witness who wanted to speak. When the man entered the room, tailed by the constables, Jay recognized him.

"It's the merchant!" he whispered to Nell.

"He will testify for us, right?" she asked. "After all, he was the one who got robbed. He doesn't have any reason to speak against us."

"Hopefully he doesn't."

The merchant, still looking a bit shaken from the attempted robbery, stepped up before the pulpit. Isa looked down curiously at him.

"Who are you?" she inquired.

"The merchant who was there to witness the whole thing," the man replied. "I think these gentlemen here can confirm that."

"He is," said the constables. "Will you let him testify?"

"Of course I will." Isa cleared her throat. "All right, sir. I have been presented with two sides to this story. The prosecution here claims that you were present when Jay, with the help of Nell, assaulted Aiden on the road. The defense claims that you were the one who was robbed, and not by Jay or Nell, but by Aiden and his friends. Who is correct?"

"It was Aiden and his friends," the merchant explained. "They jumped on my wagon and started picking through it to find valuables. Aiden knocked me to the ground and made me stay there on threat of death."

"That's quite a convincing testimony." Isa tapped her finger on the pulpit. "If Aiden is the guilty one, why did my constables arrest Jay and Nell?"

The officers looked down, ashamed of themselves.

"Because they came at the wrong time. Then they assumed that, because there were three people telling Aiden's side of the story and two telling Jay's, the majority must have been correct."

"Well, that is not the way they were instructed to do things," Isa muttered, shooting the constables a stern glare.

"And I don't think they even had a reason to arrest the girl," the man went on, pointing at Nell. "They suspected her of being an accomplice to Jay, but I saw nothing like that happen."

"Hey, thanks!" Nell piped up, before the bailiff told her to shush.

"My goodness. Are my constables really that incompetent? Lazing their way out of duty with the majority rule, and then arresting someone without probable cause. Men, consider yourselves demoted back to training!"

"Yes, Your Honour," they said, trudging out of the room.

"In the wake of such miscarriages of proper conduct leading to false arrests," Isa declared, "I have no choice but to declare Jay and Nell not guilty. Court adjourned. Go home!"

The courtroom fell into a bustle as people tried to leave. Jay and Nell went towards an exit, but Isa stopped them.

"Not you two," she said. "I wish to speak with you alone."

Of course they couldn't say no. So they waited until everyone else had left, except for the queen's guarding soldiers. That was as close to "alone" as they could get. Isa faced them, looking as stern as ever.

"Jay and Nell," she said, "you are not from Caelum."

They both shook their heads.

"I know that. I said that as a statement, not a question. Where are you really from?"

"Murex," Nell said. "We came here from Murex."

"So I see. I should have recognized your French accents," the queen replied. "Now, what brought you to Caelum? Trading? Traveling? Do let me know. You seem to be different than most odd travelers going through this kingdom."

"Is magic illegal here?" Nell blurted. Jay looked horrified. Why did she have to be so impulsive like that?

"Magic?" Isa hid her hands in her sleeves. "Erm...no, actually. Ah, yes, you look so surprised. Most people figure, what with my perceived strictness, that I forbid the practise of magic in these parts. It is only sorcery that I forbid, because it is untrustworthy. I have nothing against those who use natural magic from the earth and sky."

Jay tried not to let out a big, relieved sigh in front of the queen.

"Why would you ask that question?" Isa went on. "Is there something going on in Murex, about which I ought to know?"

Nell and Jay looked at each other, then at Isa, sighed, and recounted the saga of what was going on in Murex. Isa listened intently, her expression growing more and more grave.

"Oh my word," she said when they were finished. "That is atrocious! How could Queen Olivia approve of such barbarism?"

"She's not mean," Jay said. "She's just...scared. Her parents were killed by magic, so she thinks that it's all evil."

"Judging the many by the actions of a few," Isa lamented. "Oh, what a common theme that is in our world. And you have come to Caelum to seek sanctuary?"

They nodded. "Yes, your majesty. But I don't think we should stay here."

"It is safe for you to reside in Caelum. I have no reason to arrest you again, as long as you obey the law."

"No, it's not that. I've lost track of my friend Lukas," Jay explained, "and he could be in huge danger right now. Judge Cassandra hates his kind. If he goes to Murex, he could be in danger of getting killed."

"I see. You want to return to Murex to search for him?"

"Or go anywhere to search for him. He either went to Murex or he went to his home country - that's what I'm guessing. I wish I knew where he was from."

"Describe him. I see many races and peoples in Caelum. I can usually tell where a person is from, judging by such," Queen Isa said.

"He has light skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a light build," Jay said. "Any ideas, Ms. Queen?"

"Do not call me Ms. Queen," Isa said testily.

"Sorry. Do you know where he might be from?"

"From my knowledge, people fitting that description are usually from Germany, the British Islands, or Macedonia," Isa replied. "Does that sound correct?"

"I don't know. I just need to find him before he gets into trouble. And I can't get myself into trouble in the process."

"I cannot go with you, if that's what you want."

"Right." Jay was sort of hoping that she would, even if that was an unrealistic expectation.

"However, I can offer you some resources. It is a favour I owe you for allowing Caelum's legal system to waste your time and arrest you on false pretenses. My sincerest apologies, young ones."

"Apology accepted," Nell said, holding out her hand for a handshake. "Thank you, your majesty."

"We need something much faster than walking or hitchhiking," Jay said. He wished he still had the unicorns. But he couldn't mention them here without Isa thinking that he was crazy.

"I have two swift mules for your use. Consider them my favour to you."

"Those will do."

[Our Judge we believe shall come]

[In you, Lord, I have trusted]

[Let me not be damned for eternity]

[Save Your people.]

* * *

Nobody dared enter Cassandra's chambers when she was in such a mood. They didn't even want to knock on her door. With it being a mere hour before Daniel Tidiem and Lady Lizzie's trial, she was on edge and bound to lash out at anyone who rubbed her the wrong way. Clothed in a grim black dress and cowl for the occasion, she paced around her chambers, distracted by something.

Of course, she didn't tell her servants about what was on her mind. As far as they could tell, her agitation was only because of nerves. Even though she was judge, trials always proved to be affairs of heightened emotions.

Cassandra cloistered herself in a room exactly mirroring her heart: a cold, hollow space enclosed by hefty stone walls. A fire crackled on the hearth, the only heat source in the room. It cast a deep orange glow in the room, with shadows creeping on the walls. Cassandra, hoping to calm her nerves with a bit of warmth, drew closer to the fire.

The thing on her mind, of course, was that golden-haired gypsy. Lukas. She could not purge the image of the young man from her mind. His tambourine still rattled in her ears. His sweet, floral cologne still tickled her nose. His attractive form still haunted her memory: the liveliness in his blue eyes, the lean curve of his muscles, his gleaming golden hair.

"Stop!" Cassandra growled to herself, turning away harshly from the fireplace. "What are you doing, Cassandra? You cannot fall for that piece of common filth. Focus on your duties."

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, but the image remained. The visions of Lukas the gypsy continued to tantalize her. Try as she did to deny it, she wanted him. She _desired_ him and what he could give her.

"What are you doing?" she hissed to herself again. "Stop thinking about him like that! He's nothing but worthless vagabond filth, no matter how beautiful he is. Ugh. I have to get rid of that blonde _distraction_."

She'd have to find him and arrest him. Then he would be convicted for sorcery or some other sin of spellcasting, and he'd be executed. Out of her life for good, and she

"I'll watch it with delight," she said, voice warbling. "He'll scream for mercy, but there will be none. I'll listen as he cries out in agony. I'll watch as he goes up in flames. It will be great!"

But that wasn't really what she wanted. Or at least, not the only thing she wanted. She remembered how lovely it felt just to have him in her embrace, even though he had resisted. Oh, how she wanted him for herself. Well then. Maybe she'd have to give the worthless wanderer a choice. She had the power to do it.

She whispered her ultimatum into the flames: "He will be mine...or he will burn."

Cackling, she turned away from the fireplace again. The pointed heat from the fire, coupled with the dampness of her chambers, made her feel a bit feverish. Not the sort of feeling she wanted to have before taking the judge's pulpit.

Of course, she had already decided the outcome of this trial. The sorcerers were guilty. They were going to swing. After all, she needed some way to take out her anger over not finding what she wanted.

Ah, the key. Needing something to distract herself from Lukas, Cassandra went over to her desk to get her notes. Parchment sheets and bottles of odd chemicals littered the top. She unrolled the list of names and a map of Murex. Strikes on the names and Xs on the maps denoted the sites of raids and the suspected sorcerers she'd caught. Red lines scored the map, with notes like "It has to be here somewhere" and "I think they have secret tunnels under the city" scrawled in the margins.

No-one else knew what Cassandra's real motivation for hunting down magic people was. As far as they could tell, she was simply but extremely devoted to lawkeeping. Queen Olivia's crusade was her catalyst to continue her search with even more gusto. Soon, she'd find that magic key, and she'd be able to go home at last…

A sharp rapping on the door startled her. In her reaction to the noise, she accidentally knocked over the small shelf of bottles on her desk. A bottle of black liquid rolled off and fell right on the floor. Maybe it had broken open!

Cassandra, a bit panicked, gingerly inspected the bottle, fearing it had released the toxins inside. But the glass was unbroken. The black venom remained safely contained therein. The judge sighed in relief and put the bottle back on the shelf. On second thought, she hid it in the desk drawer. She really should have gotten rid of the stuff sooner. Well, she could dispose of it after the trial. That would do.

Someone knocked on the door again. "Your Honour! The trial is about to begin. Are you ready?"

"Get you gone!" Cassandra yelled over her shoulder. "I am coming. No need to hound me, underling!"

She shut the desk drawer, hiding the dreamshade venom. Ready to declare Tidiem and Shadow guilty, and ready to find Lukas wherever he was hiding, she marched toward the door.


	20. Chapter 20

_Dies irae_

 _Dies illa_

 _Solvet saeclum in favilla_

 _Teste David cum Sibylla_

 _Quando Judex est venturus_

 _Quantus tremor est futurus_

A dark cloud seemed to have settled over Murex. The citizens cowered in their homes, fearing the danger that might befall them if they stepped onto the streets. Soldiers had a constant presence in the city. They carried out Judge Cassandra's orders, turning the city upside down in their search for sorcerers and magic people. Under her orders, they dragged people out of their houses in the deep hours of the night. They took parents into custody right in front of their children. They brought fear with them wherever they went. No-one understood the judge's fervor in her crusade against magic. She was taking it much farther than Queen Olivia had tasked her to go. There was something furious about this, something personal.

Having made her decision long before the case went to court, Judge Cassandra had declared her latest victims guilty on every charge she slapped them with. Gleefully she sentenced Daniel Tidiem and Lady Lizzie Shadow to death. A crowd gathered to watch the spectacle of the hanging, having come out of some kind of morbid curiosity.

"What has gotten into the Judge?" they would whisper among themselves. "This is the eighth execution in two weeks. Are there really that many magic people in Murex?"

"Shh, don't let her hear you. She might think you are plotting treason."

"When will it end?"

"I never even knew these people...who are they?"

"I heard she arrested the captain of the merchant fleet last month. Our own Captain Jordan, accused of sorcery! Can you imagine?"

"And Adam Torque, and now these Daniel Tidiem and Lady Lizzie Shadow people," they whispered. "Who's next?"

Best not to ask that question. Cassandra was on a rampage, out for blood. She claimed that it was necessary, that blood must flow so magic could not. But the people were not so sure of that. They wondered if something else was going on.

After the execution, Cassandra's search took her out to the countryside. Peaceful farms, which happily grew the wheat and vegetables that fed Murex, were invaded by hordes of boorish soldiers led by a vengeful judge. She had the next two names on the list: two farmers by the name of Joseph Cat and Stacey. According to Cassandra, however, they were magicians and needed to be arrested.

This time, Cassandra had compelled Petra to go with her. Her excuse was that she wanted the captain for "backup" while making the arrest. Petra, of course, wanted nothing to do with it, but she went along nonetheless. She didn't want to make an obviously very unstable Cassandra angry at her; also, maybe she would have a chance to intervene this time.

Cassandra, with Petra close behind, led a group of her men up the hill where the farm stood. It was absolutely nothing special to behold: a small duplex cottage with a field in front. A patch of perfect, plump pumpkins took up half the field, while tawny wheat filled the other. Cassandra's soldiers carelessly trampled on the produce while forcing their way up to the cottages, ruining a good portion of the crops.

Petra rode up next to the judge. "Are you sure this is necessary? What evidence do you even have that they are using magic?"

"Do not question me!" the judge snarled, flipping her cherry-red hair over her shoulder. "I know what I am doing. I would not have arrested them without reasonable suspicion."

"Your idea of 'reasonable' is much different than anyone else's."

"Silence. Am I detecting insubordination from you, Captain? Let me remind you that I outrank you," she said in a venomous voice.

Petra scowled. "They're just farmers. What kind of magic would two simple farmers use?"

"Look at their fields," Cassandra said, pointing.

"You mean the ones your men just trampled?"

"Shut up. Look at the crops. Have you ever seen such rich produce? The pumpkins are nearly glowing. The wheat looks like molded gold. It's unnatural that two peasant farmers could have grown something so fine. Obviously, they bewitched their fields."

Petra gaped. "Now that is just ridiculous, and you know it. You have no evidence!"

"My job is difficult enough already. I do not need _your_ disobedience to make it harder. Step aside." Cassandra pushed past Petra to get to the doors of the houses. She turned back and called forward some of her men. On her signal, they kicked the door open and invaded the house.

The occupants yelped in surprise as the judge and her men flooded into their home. Stacy had been mashing pumpkins for pie while Joseph ground wheat for flour. They dropped their tools and put their hands up, shaking in fear.

"J-J-Judge Cassandra Rose!" Joseph stammered, backing up towards the wall.

"Good afternoon, peasants," the judge purred as she strolled into the room, hands behind her back. "Do you, perhaps, have an idea why I am here today?"

"No, ma'am," Stacy said.

"You two are suspected of violating the law."

"What? How?"

"I have reasonable cause to suspect you to be guilty of the charges of using magic, being in possession of magical objects...Oh, and harboring a fugitive from justice."

They both spoke up to protest. "No, we arent-"

"Hush," Cassandra cut them off. "I wasn't finished speaking. Now, being suspected doesn't mean that you are guilty - although I am almost certain you are - and you will not be arrested if my suspicions prove to be incorrect. Answer my questions honestly. Do either of you know magic?"

"No, ma'am. Of course not. We're only farmers."

She glanced around at the homely kitchen, wondering what secrets could be hidden in its rustic cupboards and under the floorboards. "And are you hiding any magical paraphernalia in this house? Potions, spellbooks, anything of that sort?"

"No, ma'am. We have no use of those kinds of things."

"Very well. Now answer my last question." She strolled up to them and got up in their faces. " _Are you harboring a certain fugitive?_ For that charge is likened to treason."

"Who?" Joseph's and Stacy's faces went pale.

"The gypsy called Lukas. Where is he?"

"We, uh...Who?" the two farmers stammered.

"Hold on," Petra said, stepping forward. "That was not why we came here-"

"This doesn't concern you," Cassandra snarled at her, without looking at her. "Go outside, Petra. _Now_. That is an order."

Cassandra's men gave Petra a push, forcing her out of the cottage. Then they slammed the door and held it shut.

"We don't know anyone named Lukas," Joseph said. "Honest."

"Really? But Lukas is on the run from me, and he could be hiding anywhere in Murex. As long as that blond whore is on the run, he puts this kingdom in danger. Socially. Spiritually. _Mentally_."

"Our home is open to travelers in need of shelter," Stacy admitted, "but we have not housed a nomad in years. And definitely not one named Lukas. I'm sorry, ma'am."

"You could be lying. I wouldn't put it above you weak, vulgar peasantfolk."

"Ma'am -"

"Silence. As judge, I will make the final decision. If you really are innocent like you say you are, what do you have to be afraid of?"

She turned aside and exited, her men following after her. When they were outside, she shut the door and grabbed a shovel resting against the wall. Balancing it on two hooks on the doorframe, she used it to barricade the door. Then she took an unlit torch from one of her men.

Petra approached her. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you a chance to prove yourself." Cassandra lit the torch and handed it to her. " _Burn it._ "

Petra blanched. "What?!"

"You heard what I said. Burn it until it's ashes. These people have to know not to cross the High Judge."

"But they're innocent-"

"Are you disobeying me? Insubordination can be counted as treason."

"All due respect, ma'am, but my training as Captain was to uphold the law and defend the kingdom. Not to kill innocent peasants."

"Your training was to obey your superiors," the judge snarled. "Now burn it, like I told you."

Petra scowled deeply. She took a step closer to the house. She held the torch high and threw it…

...on the ground. She stomped out the flames and crushed the charcoal under her boot. Then she glared defiantly at Cassandra.

"You vile, treasonous…Get me another torch." Cassandra ripped another torch from the hand of one of her men.

"No, don't-" Petra protested, but it was too late.

Cassandra threw the burning torch on the roof of the house. The thatch caught fire in an instant and spread. Smoke rose into the air, and within seconds, Joseph and Stacy started yelling in fear from inside the house. They beat on the barricaded door and cried out for help.

"No!" Petra shouted, realizing that she had to act. She grabbed a heavy iron rake off the ground and swung it at the front window. The glass shattered, and she climbed into the burning house.

Inside, it was as hot as hell, literally, and smoke hung in the air. Petra coughed and looked around frantically for Stacy and Joseph. They were pushing against the barricaded door.

"The judge blocked that door!" Petra shouted, beckoning at them. "We have to leave through a window. Through the back - come on!"

The captain grabbed Stacy and Joseph by their arms and pulled them away from the door. She led them through the burning house, looking for a back window. The smoke continued to fill the room...and fill their lungs. If they stayed a minute longer, they'd faint from the fumes, and that was if the house didn't collapse on them first.

"Window!" Stacy yelled hoarsely, pointing at another window in the back wall of their house. "Can we go through that?"

"Hang on." Petra kicked out the glass. "Yes, we can. Hurry. This place isn't gonna hold up for much longer."

She helped Stacy and Joseph climb out through the window, then ducked out herself. And not a moment too soon. In a roar of flames, the wooden structure beams gave out and the roof collapsed. Sparks and tongues of fire leapt into the air.

"T-Thank you, Captain," Stacy and Joseph stammered, staring back at the deathtrap they'd just escaped from.

"You're welcome." Petra helped them back to their feet. "Now hurry! Go! The judge is going to chase us down."

"Wait, you too?" Stacy asked, hesitating to run away.

"I disobeyed her orders," Petra explained, motioning at them to run. "I'm a criminal now, according to her. Come on. We don't have any time to wait."

They fled for the woods beyond the farmlands, but didn't escape Cassandra's notice. She thought that the collapse of the house had killed the farmers and the foolhardy captain who went in to save them, but then she saw three figures running downhill, towards the shelter of the woods.

"That _coward_ ," Judge Cassandra sneered, watching them flee. "Ready your weapons, men. We've a traitor to punish."

[Day of wrath]

[That day]

[Will dissolve the world in ashes]

[As prophesied by David and the Sibyl]

[When the Judge comes]

[What trembling there shall be]

* * *

The mules were just as swift as Queen Isa said they would be. What took them far too long hitchhiking and walking was accomplished in just a few days on the swift mules. By day they rode, at a full gallop whenever they could manage it. Jay loved the sight of the fields and forests of Italy flying past him. At night, they sought the nearest village and rested. Yet the whole journey was underwritten by urgency. It would be a close mission, finding Lukas and warning him before Cassandra the Insane found them.

"Okay," he told Nell as they rode their mules through a lightly wooded area. "We must be getting close to Murex now."

"That's right. Hmm…" Nell looked around. "Ah, I think we're back in France now. Pretty sure we crossed the border a couple hours ago. Hard to tell. Borders aren't lines drawn in the sand."

"Good. I really hope Lukas didn't go back to Murex. It's too dangerous."

"He probably did, though. He doesn't know about how Olivia brought back the law against magic, or how that Judge Cassandra woman is hunting magic people _and_ nomads."

"You would think she'd get kicked from her position," Jay said. "She's going beyond what her orders were. Wasn't she only supposed to look for people with magic?"

"Cassandra thinks that nomads are people with magic. And I don't think she's going to bother researching the difference. What will you do when we find Lukas?"

"Tell him about it, obviously, and to stay away from that mess that Murex turned out to be."

"And we could take him back to Caelum with us."

"That, too."

"Any plans to stop Cassandra."

Jay breathed out heavily. "Haven't gotten that far."

* * *

The judge used to know exactly where Lukas was. He had cloistered himself in the cathedral and claimed sanctuary. He liked sheltering in the church. The clergy's kindness provided him with a cot in the cellar and two servings of modest food a day, things that were luxuries when he was on the run. They had even made him a shirt so he wouldn't be cold in the spacious cathedral. The churchgoers grew accustomed to his presence and offered to pray for him. It was, for the most part, a small but peaceful existence.

But it couldn't last forever. Cassandra knew that she couldn't invade the holy space and arrest Lukas, but she could drive him to the edge of his willpower. Night after night, she'd gather up her men and patrol the perimeter of the church, staying just outside the boundary she had to observe. Her goal was to remind him that he was essentially in a cage, albeit a beautiful and sacred one, and she was ready to capture him as soon as he stepped out. If he was in earshot, she'd tell him about what a nice pyre she'd build for him. Or that _she_ could be his "sanctuary" if he'd just accept her offer. Knowing what she meant, he stayed far away.

Eventually Lukas could not take it any longer, so he plotted how he would escape the cathedral without Cassandra noticing. He watched her patrol the place many evenings, until he had memorized the pattern of her doing so. What days she was there to harass him, and what days she had other things to do. He thanked the clergy for their kindness, asked for their prayers while he made his escape, and then fled the cathedral on a safe night. He ran from the city, going into the woods. The woods were safe, or mostly safe, he reasoned.

But he was alone. So, so terribly alone. His first tribe, Aiden and the others, they had abandoned him. He'd lost track of his second tribe - they had probably moved on to the next city. Olivia was no longer friendly. Petra had to work for Judge Cassandra, the woman who wanted him either dead or in her bed. Jay and Nell seemed to have vanished. He had no-one.

In this realization, he'd sat on a tree stump and cried. He released weeks' worth of pent-up emotions in a flood of hot, salty tears. He wanted to lie down in the woods and not get back up again. What was the point? Where was he supposed to even go?

"Excuse me? Who is that?" someone called from nearby.

Lukas gasped and stopped crying. Fearing that the voice belonged to one of Cassandra's men, he ran for cover. He dove into a thicket of bushes to hide. Crouching among the weeds and saplings, he kept an eye out for the owner of the voice.

"Is someone crying?" the voice asked again. "I heard someone crying."

"Or laughing," another voice pointed out. "They sound pretty similar."

Lukas stiffened. Two people. He slid deeper into the thicket. No, he was not going to leave his hiding-place. Yes, he was alone, but it was better to be alone than to be caught by one of Cassandra's men.

But then again, he had just been crying over how lonely he was. Or maybe that was more fear. Or maybe-

Someone grabbed him by the arm from behind. He jumped up and screeched in fear. Blindly he struck out with slaps, trying to resist getting caught. But the person who snuck up on him retaliated, and soon they were in a rolling wrestling match on the ground.

"Let go of me!" they cried. The person had a feminine voice.

"You snuck up on me," Lukas defended. The girl reached up and slapped him on the nose. The fight ended up with Lukas on his back and the girl lying sideways on top of him. He shoved her off and stood up. After thinking about it for a second, he helped her to her feet.

"Okay, good fight," she said. "I'll give that to you. Ya would've been dead already if I still had my daggers, though. No offense."

The girl had hair that used to be blue, but had grown out to reveal its true brown roots. Her clothes were tattered and patched up with animal skins and tree bark - bits and pieces scavenged from the woodlands. Obviously, she had the look and act of someone who had been living in the wild for a long time.

"Who are you?" Lukas asked.

"I'm Nohr," the girl explained. "I'm from Fragor, so I had to flee when it got destroyed. All of us Fragorians are running wild now. It's a tough life."

"I feel you," he replied. "I've been living as a nomad my whole life. Always on the run, getting kicked out of town, having nothing but a wagon and the clothes on your back. I'm Lukas, by the way."

"Whoa! You're a nomad? A gypsy?" Nohr asked, eyes wide. "Do you know magic?"

"No, I don't have magic or know much at all about it." Lukas chose not to share that Jay had magic, though. "Not that it's going to stop Cassandra from hunting me down."

"Cassandra," Nohr growled, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh. I take it you've had a bad run-in with her, too."

"Yep. She's mad. I might not be magic, but some of my friends from Fragor are, and she's been terrorizing them. I had to go into hiding with them to be safe. I've lost a couple friends to her when they weren't being careful enough."

"Pardon me if I'm being shortsighted here, but I think she's got some special fixation on me."

"No need to be so polite. We're outcasts, for crying out loud. Anyway, what makes you say that?"

"I took sanctuary in a cathedral to protect myself against her. But then she stalked around the place for days on end, trying to creep me out so I would leave. And…" He broke off. "Never mind. I don't want to talk about that."

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"All right, fine. I didn't really want the full story anyway. Okay, you look like you could use some allies. An enemy of that red-haired monster is a friend of mine. We'll keep you hidden."

"You would? Where would we hide?"

She put on a sneaky smile and winked. "Let me show you. I mean, you don't have anything to lose, do you?"

"My life?"

"Hm...Good point. Oh, well. Follow me, anyway. Unless you'd rather cry in the woods."

Lukas chased after her as she ran out of the woodlands and into what looked like a forgotten part of Murex. It was a small section of the city, lying in ruins. Apparently, some of the workers decided that it wasn't worth salvaging when Murex was rebuilt. Nohr went straight into it, and consequently, so did Lukas. After turning into a crumbling alleyway, she opened up a rusted trapdoor.

"What's that? Someone's old wine cellar?" Lukas asked.

"No, silly. It's our hideout." Nohr started down the ladder that descended into the unknown. "Don't wait up."

Hesitantly, Lukas followed her down the ladder and into the...whatever this hideout was supposed to be. It led to a small chamber at the bottom of the ladder, and then a short tunnel which opened to a larger underground chamber. From there, the space had several tunnel openings snaking away from it.

"Oh. Interesting," Lukas remarked. The tunnels weren't just utilitarian, either; carvings and frescoes decorated the walls. On one wall, a graffiti artist had written a warning:

 _Friends of the blood judge, beware,_

 _For you have found our secret lair._

 _But, oh, you won't live the tale to tell._

 _We'll send you where you belong - HELL._

"Did you guys write that warning?" Lukas asked, pointing at it.

"Yep. Our leader, actually. There are more warnings like it in other tunnels. They run under the whole city of Murex. That helps us move around. We're like the revolution against the Judge."

"The revolution. Interesting."

"Our leader got the idea from the Christian catacombs in Rome. This is sort of like that. A persecuted minority, hiding in complex tunnels to escape an evil government. You know?"

"Hold on. I've seen a Christian catacomb. It had Greek lettering and frescoes of the Good Shepherd and the Apostles on the walls. Not ominous warnings about sending people to hell."

"Don't be so dramatic," Nohr said, rolling her eyes. "The warning means that if we catch one of Cassandra's men in our catacomb, we'll kill them. No questions asked."

On that cheerful note, Nohr brought Lukas into the full of the communal chamber. It seemed to be a mass-living space for the outcasts: the space was filled with beds, half-broken wagons, cloth draperies, and other items salvaged from the city. Someone had made an effigy of Judge Cassandra, tied a noose around its neck, and strung it from the ceiling.

"That's classy," Lukas remarked sarcastically.

"Hey. We have to have our fun every now and then," Nohr countered, sticking out her tongue. "Besides, we needed the practice for the real deal."

"The real deal? You actually plan on assassinating Cassandra?"

"No, we want to overthrow her and _then_ kill her. A big public execution, like the ones she used to _kill my friends_." Nohr's tone turned dark. "It'll be great. Our leader has the event all planned out, too."

"Who is your leader?"

"He's coming in here right now." Nell pointed, and Lukas looked.

An old man walked into the room, the fabric of his olive-colored robe swishing with each step. Lukas hadn't seen the man for a long time, but that fellow was unforgettable.

"Ivor?"


	21. Chapter 21

**A fun little bit of trivia: The Latin poetry heading the last two chapters are excerpts from medieval Catholic prayers. The excerpt from chapter 19 is a prayer for God to spare the soul, and the one from chapter 20 is taken from "Dies Irae," a hymn about the coming of Christ on Judgement Day. I included them in the headers for ch. 19 and 20 because they form part of the soundtrack in the Disney adaption of Hunchback of Notre Dame, from which this part of the story is heavily inspired, and the lyrics fit the situation.**

 _Murex border_

Petra walked away from the border, back into Murex. She had safely spirited away Joseph and Stacey to the neighboring kingdom of Veritas. The city was out of the insane judge's jurisdiction, and from there, the two farmers could go on to a different kingdom if they so wished. But for Petra, fleeing would be more difficult.

Especially with Cassandra's men constantly on her tail. The very soldiers she had been instructing a few weeks ago were now hunting her down. They were loyal to the kingdom at all costs, even if that cost turned out to be stalking and intending to capture their former captain. Ah, the high price of patriotic loyalty.

So this was what it felt like to be a fugitive. Years ago, Petra was a hot-blooded patriot. She believed that foreigners had no place in the proud city, and often lobbied for Gabriel to pass legislation limiting immigration. No mercy for scruffy outsiders. Of course, that attitude had faded away with time, but now it struck her full in the face. Funny how life can turn around on a person like that.

"God must be trying to teach me something," she lamented as she slunk through the farmlands, hoping there were no soldiers around to spot her.

No such luck. Though she had abandoned her armor almost immediately after the burning house incident and she was quite dirty and scruffy, the men still recognized their old Captain. Without hesitation, they drew swords and ran after her.

Petra fled, mentally kicking herself. Stupid, stupid! She wasn't doing a good enough job of hiding from them. And she herself wasn't armed; she left the sword behind her with her armor. The only thing she could do was run from them. The soldiers chased her away from the city walls, through the farmlands, and into the outskirts of the kingdom. But she didn't know if they were going to run her out of the kingdom into another, or if they'd kill her as soon as she stopped. Now was not an advisable time to figure it out.

She suddenly tripped, tumbling into a ditch. She scrambled to her feet, spitting dirt out of her mouth. The soldiers shouted something from not too far away at all. In a panic, she glanced around. When she did, she saw what she tripped over - the culvert to a sewage tunnel. It was big enough for a person to walk through. Without thinking about it too much, Petra jumped inside.

At the sound of approaching voices, she slunk deeper into its shadowy shelter. She waited for the sound of men's voices and heavy boots to fade. When they did, she breathed out a sigh of relief and prepared to walk out. But she didn't get to do that, because someone had snuck up behind her, and now they struck her with a heavy piece of wood. Petra yelped in pain and surprise, falling on the ground.

"Hey! Let go!" she shouted. Several hands lunged for her, grabbing her by the shoulders and arms and ankles. The hands (she had no idea how many people were ganging up on her) pulled her to her feet and forced her deeper into the tunnel.

"I said let GO!" she shouted, punching futilely at the air as she was dragged down the length of the tunnel. The punching came to a halt when a cold metal chain wrapped around her wrists and pulled tight. Finally, her kidnappers gave her a push, and she fell on her knees.

"You all have five seconds to tell me what's going on-" Petra got interrupted when some lanterns ignited, washing the room in warm light. She was in a large underground chamber, with walls made of dirt and stone. It looked like the hub room of several tunnels. It was a catacomb system!

She also got a good look at her kidnappers. They were all thin and dirty, and they regarded her with vindictive stares. Two of them pulled Petra to her feet while a blue-haired girl, possibly their leader, circled her, leering and giggling.

"Who are you?" Petra demanded. "What do you want from me?"

The blue-haired girl just laughed. "Why should I bother telling you? You're the invader. I know who you are. Oh, this is rich. Gather 'round, everyone!"

"Ohhhh!" people said as they emerged from their hiding-places in the luggage and debris in the chamber. They chattered excitedly:

"Is that one of her soldiers?"

"This will be a fun night."

"Good catch, Nohr!"

"Can we sing the song?"

"Guys, guys," Nohr said with a chuckle, waving her hands at them. "This isn't just one of the blood judge's soldiers. This is Sir Petra, her loyal Captain of the Guard! Ain't that great?"

The outlaws hooted and cheered.

"And this loyal Captain of the Guard-" Nohr prodded Petra with her elbow "-just stumbled into _our_ tunnels, looking to find out our secrets. We can't have that, now can we?"

"No!" many people yelled. "Hang 'er out to dry."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Petra blurted. "No, you people have the wrong idea. I'm not one of her sol-"

She got cut off by one of the raiders wrapping a cloth around her mouth.

"You have the right to remain silent!" Nohr taunted. "Okay, let's not waste our time. I've got good 'noose' for you all tonight, and I sure hate to keep you waiting."

Petra yelled in distress, trying to tell Nohr that they were mistaken, but all that came from her mouth was muffled and indistinct.

"That's what they all say."

* * *

 _The royal palace_

Cassandra walked down the castle corridor, her strides strong. A few of her men stood behind her, conditioned to follow her wherever she went, but she waved them away this time.

"Go home, men," she told them. "While I meet the with the Queen, her own royal guards will be protecting us. I have no need of your services tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," they said before departing. Cassandra sighed and approached the conference hall door. Her judge's robes flowing majestically behind her. Holding her chin up high, she pushed the double doors open and entered the room.

Olivia was waiting for her, standing in front of the fireplace. She frowned as she gazed into the flames. When Cassandra entered, she turned to face her.

"You are aware of the reasons for which I summoned you?" Olivia inquired, crossing over to the long table in the middle of the room.

"A fireplace," the judge remarked sullenly, looking at it and not really hearing what Olivia said.

The queen narrowed her eyes. "No, Judge Cassandra, I did not summon you here because of the fireplace. I assure you, the fireplace is not guilty of sorcery, of being 'subversive,' or of harboring any nomads. There is no need to arrest it."

The judge's red lips curled up on one end at the mention of that last point. "Excuse me? I thought I was carrying out your orders."

"Yes, I admit that, but you are being excessive. I did not order you to go on the rampage you have brought unto my city. You are overstepping your boundaries."

"Overstepping?" Cassandra scoffed. "No, what I have been doing is ensuring that your policies are enforced. You wanted Murex to be cleaned of magician filth, and I am working towards that goal."

Olivia sighed deeply and rubbed the sides of her face. "Judge, you are very mistaken. You're killing innocent people. It was time I stepped in. I order you, as queen, to cease your duties in carrying out the order until you have calmed down."

At that, Cassandra's face turned almost as red as her hair. "What! Cease my duties? Have you gone mad, woman? All I am doing is carrying out the orders that _you_ laid down. All sorcerers die! Is that not what you wanted?"

Olivia gritted her teeth and stepped backwards. "Y-ye-Maybe. At least at one time."

"Then why do you sound so insecure? Am I detecting shame in your tone?"

"How dare you talk to me that way! I am your queen. Now listen to what I say. I rescinded my father's order to make magic legal again, and I called for sorcery to be proactively eliminated from Murex. Deny that I will not. I am amending my statute, as I realize that it was a mistake made in the heat of emotion. Thus, I call for a scale-back of my law, if not a repeal altogether, because I have seen the damage that it caused. Or rather…" She took a few steps forward, getting up in Cassandra's face. "...the damage that _you_ caused."

"You fool!" Cassandra pushed her back, an extremely daring move. "Can you not see the consequences of that? You will only allow the filth to repopulate your city. And just when I was making progress."

Olivia was still recovering from being pushed. She had grown up surrounded by palace guards and her parents to protect her. No-one had ever laid hands on her. No-one would dare assault the queen like that.

"That's enough. I will not tolerate this madness from you anymore. Consider yourself relieved of duty, Cassandra!" she snapped, when she got ahold of herself.

That was the breaking point. Cassandra, looking more panicked than angry, yelped something unintelligible and went for something in her pocket. She whipped it out - it was a long wooden stick coated in black polish.

"What is that?" Olivia asked, backing up. "Wait. Is that what I think it is? How could you-"

Cassandra barked a curse in magic language. Dark maroon magic shot out of the tip of the wand. It struck Olivia and surrounded her in a field of crackling energy. The queen attempted to move, but was frozen in place. She could only look around and just barely force out words.

"What...have you...done?" she gasped.

"Freezing spell," the judge said, voice growling. "You think this is a terrible act of mutiny, but I assure you that it is necessary. Oh, no...not for the purpose of protecting Murex from the magic filth. Ah, ha...no. This city could be sacked by barbarians and left a rubble-heap, for all I care. My dear queen, I have played you like a chesspiece."

"W-What?" Olivia managed to choke out. "How can you use magic, if you've been hunting down people with magic all this time?"

"A touch of pure, unadulterated hypocrisy on my part," the judge purred. "I'm no so interested in expunging magic from Murex as I am in acquiring the key I need. The magic key that will finally allow me to escape this foul world and return to my real home. Infused with magical power, it could and would open portals to allow me to reach my true world. I knew the key was somewhere in France, especially in this quaint kingdom...I just didn't know who had it. So I wanted to weed out the magic folk to see who might have it. And Miss Queen, your law against magic was just the excuse I needed to raid their homes, capture them, and kill them in search of my prize. In fact...it was my own brilliant idea."

Olivia's eyes were as wide and bright as the moon. "What do you mean?"

Cassandra let out a devilish chuckle. From another pocket of her robe, she produced a vial of vile black liquid. Dreamshade venom. Snickering, she dropped it on the floor and let it roll towards Olivia.

"No…"

"I killed Gabriel!" Cassandra said gleefully. "Such delightful irony, is it not?"

"I-I...You really are evil. Go to hell, Cassandra!"

"Oh, but I can't, Miss Queen. The devil is too afraid of me." She laughed hoarsely at her own joke.

Someone knocked on the door. Leaving the Queen in stasis for as long as she pleased, Cassandra exited the conference room. A returning group of her soldiers was waiting for her in the hall.

"Ma'am, our capture of Petra failed."

Cassandra cursed.

"Even so, we know where she went. Our men last spotted her ducking into the sewage tunnels."

At this Cassandra perked up. "You don't say? Well, no-one goes into those miry depths for no reason. I do believe I have a lead on my wayward captain."

"How did your meeting with the queen go?" another soldier asked.

Cassandra looked him in the eyes. "It was quite helpful. Quite informative."

* * *

"Murex seems quieter," Jay remarked.

"Definitely." Nell scanned the vista of empty houses and dirty streets. "I wonder what happened. Do you think it was…"

She didn't even need to finish the sentence. "Probably. Come on. We shouldn't be out in the open. She knows what we look like."

"I haven't even met her," Nell said as they ducked behind a building, "and I'm afraid of her."

"If Petra is scared of her, she must be terrifying." Jay shimmied around the edge of a building.

"Petra's pretty fearless, huh?"

"Sort of. It's a nice trait."

"Oh." Nell sounded disappointed. "I'm glad you like her, though."

"I like her as a friend," Jay explained, then gave the water magician girl a meaningful wink. "Let's not talk about love right now. We're a bit busy."

"Right." Nell paused. "Hold on."

"What for?"

"Shh. I hear something." She bent her ear towards the sound. "I think it's people talking. Sounds like a bad conversation, too. Let's investigate."

"Nell, that's not very safe," Jay scolded.

"I can't help it." She was already hurrying towards the sound. "Water people are empathetic. We don't want to ignore someone hurting."

"She's gonna be the death of me someday," Jay muttered to himself, following her. "Ah well. She makes this fun."

They started to round about the corner of a building. Jay gently grabbed Nell's arm and pulled her back to keep her from running into the heat of the conflict. A group of a few soldiers, Cassandra's soldiers, had a woman and a child backed into a corner. They were carrying spears and haranguing the woman about something.

"We saw you making water in a dry well!" one soldier growled at the woman. "You were using magic."

"Please!" the woman pleaded. "I only wanted water for my child - we had none - and the well was dry. I could not find another way to provide."

"Excuses," another soldier scoffed, dumping the water bucket on the ground. "Does your husband know you've been up to this sorcery?"

"I don't have a husband," the woman said quietly, looking at her feet. "I...I never did."

"Oh! So you're a witch _and_ a whore?" The soldiers crowded up on the woman.

Nell felt Jay's grip on her arm tighten suddenly. His bright green eyes were full of hatred for the lowlives harassing this woman. Nell desperately wanted to take the single mother and her child by the arm, then flight them to a safe place.

"Please, I didn't mean to hurt anyone." The woman hugged her child close. "I...I...Do what you want to me, but please, don't hurt my child! Is there someone who can care for her?"

"Who cares?" One man then reached down to pull the little girl away from her mother. That was the breaking point for Nell and Jay. They rushed in to fight, but so did a group of vigilantes. The alleyway quickly became a war zone as outlaws attacked soldiers and soldiers retaliated. Yells filled the air, blood sprinkled the ground, and the mother and her child ran for their lives.

Despite the mass confusion, Jay recognized one outlaw among the group. He wore an olive robe and had a long black beard. The old man turned and spotted Jay as well, and for a moment, they forgot the chaos surrounding them.

"Ivor?"

"Jay?"

"What are you doing here, son?"

"I-I…"

"Don't you know what the judge will do to people like us?"

"I know, but…"

"No excuses." Ivor rushed over to Jay and Nell, grabbed both of them by the arms, and hauled them away from the brawl. He hustled them along the streets until he found a sewage culvert. Without explaining any of his reasoning, he pushed them into the tunnel.

"Why are we going into the sewers?" Nell asked as Ivor goaded them through the damp, dimly lit space.

"Getting you to a safe meeting place," Ivor said breathlessly.

"Safe? I thought you didn't care about me," Jay said.

"Now is not the time for father issues," Ivor growled. "We've been through this. I'm not going to let my son and my ward walk the streets where that insane woman can find them."

"He cares," Nell told Jay.

"How did you end up with the outlaws?" Jay asked as Ivor brought them into a large underground chamber. A crowd of people, most of them scraggly-looking outlaws, were gathered there. They were talking and running around the chamber, excited about something.

"There wasn't a definite moment of my joining," Ivor replied, now ceasing to push them along. "I knew of their existence and their secret tunnels, I aided them in escaping Cassandra and plotting against her...and somehow I became their unofficial leader. Now! Let's see what these ladies and gentlemen are so excited about. Excuse me?"

He made his way to the front of the crowd, climbing onto a low wooden platform. A blue-haired girl scrambled out of the shadows from stage left, giggling like a crazy person.

"Nohr. There you are. What are these people all riled up about?" Ivor asked her, motioning at the crowd. "Are you making Cassandra effigies again?"

"No-" Nohr broke out laughing and had to recover herself. "-even better! Look at what stumbled right into our hideout."

Someone gave the unfortunate captive a shove, and they stumbled out onto the stage. They almost tripped and fell flat. A chain kept their wrists bound together. Ivor gasped when he realised who they were, but Nohr wasn't paying attention.

"Ta-da!" she boasted, making a mocking march around the captive. "It's none other than Sir Petra, the High Judge's loyal captain of the guard. Hup-two-three-four!"

The thrilled crowd squealed, so Ivor couldn't say anything to dissuade Nohr. Petra looked at him with wild, frightened eyes, letting out muffled cries for help.

But just as Nohr was tying together the seven knots for a noose, someone yelled, "Stop!"

Nohr stopped, but she still looked annoyed. Jay and Nell rushed through the crowd and scrambled to climb onto the stage. Nell grabbed the rope out of Nohr's hands and threw it aside.

"You're interrupting the fun part!" the girl whined. "All I wanted to do was to have a good time and kill one of Cassandra's soldiers. What's the big idea?"

"She's not one of the judge's soldiers," Jay told her, glaring. "That's my friend, Petra. She helped Nell and I escape, what's more. Do _not_ hurt my friend!"

"Then why didn't Ivor say anything?"

"I was going to!"

"If she-" Nohr pointed at Petra "-isn't one of the judge's henchmen, she should have said so."

"I _did_ ," Petra growled when Ivor pulled off the gag. "I was just looking for shelter. My word! What is wrong with you people?"

"We're afraid, that's what's wrong," Nohr said, putting her hands on her hips. "With Cassandra hunting us down like rats in a haystack, we have pretty good reason to be wary of anyone who goes into our tunnels. We don't let just anyone in."

Ivor gave her a look that said otherwise.

"Fine. But can I ask who the hell you two are?" The blue haired girl motioned at Jay and Nell. "Where did you even come from? Who brought you?"

"I'm Jay, she's Nell," Jay explained, getting a little tired of having to constantly introduce himself. "Long story short, we're magic people and we're trying to avoid Cassandra. Also, I'm looking for my friend."

"They might be dead already."

"Ugh! I'd rather not think that way."

"What's their name?"

"Lukas," Jay said. "He's about yay tall...skinny...blond hair. Have you seen him?"

"Have I seen him? He's right here." Nohr whistled to the crowd. "Lukas! If you're around, come up onstage. Jay here wants to talk to you."

To Jay's utter surprise, the crowd parted and a lanky blond man trotted up to the stage. Lukas was in tough shape compared to when Jay had seen him last; his clothes were dirty (although he was wearing a shirt now), he had scratches on his arms, and he seemed much more unsettled.

"Hey, friend," Jay greeted him with a smile. "I've been looking for you."

Lukas climbed onto the stage. "Hi. Were you wondering if I was safe?"

"Definitely. Finally, this crazy chase across Europe can come to a stop."

"Where were you?"

"Hiding in the wilderness, then went to Italy in self-imposed exile, and then back to Murex when I found your tribe but not you. It didn't help that Cassandra was on the lookout for your kind."

Lukas tensed up suddenly. "Do not mention that name."

"Oh, no. Have you…"

"Been jumped and harassed in a church by her? Yes," Lukas said bitterly. "Jay, I'm in _huge_ trouble. She either wants to burn me at the stake or...ugh, I don't even want to mention it. I'm doomed."

"Calm down, Lukas. I'm sure there's a way to stop her, now that we're all together. Here."

Jay gave Lukas a gentle hug. He wasn't really sure why he did it, because he wasn't really a tactile person, but Lukas seemed to appreciate it. He relaxed after that.

"We're here for you," Nell promised. "We'll protect you."

He gave them a small smile. "Thank you. I wish there was more I could do for you. I have to be helped so often. I wish there was some way I could start helping for a change."

"You did help," some cold voices responded. Clinking armor and heavy boots sounded in the chamber. Everyone turned and muttered uneasily - no-one among them was wearing armor.

 _Oh no_...

Cassandra's soldiers flooded in through the tunnels. The cornered outlaws shrieked and scattered, like frightened sheep, throwing the chamber into mass chaos. Some people attempted to slip out through the tunnels, while others hid in the garbage piles. In the midst of the commotion, a group of the judge's men jumped up onto the stage and cornered Jay, Nell, Petra, Ivor, Nohr, and Lukas. Jay tried to fight back, but someone knocked him on his feet and slipped tight leather shoes on his feet. The restriction limited his powers, and he found he could do nearly nothing as he and his friends were tied up in chains. Then the High Judge herself strutted into their midst, wearing an arrogant smile.

"Well now!" she exclaimed. "What a raid, if I do say so myself. Cleaning out Murex of an entire backlog of low-class filth. It's swell."

She motioned for her soldiers to take away Petra, Ivor, Nell, and Nohr.

"What have you done? How did you find us?" Petra shouted at Cassandra as she was led away.

"Simple. I ought to thank you, Captain," the judge said mockingly. "With your foolishness, you led me straight to your friends' hideout. I knew there was a secret catacomb under this city, and you proved it. So thank you, Captain."

Petra could only stare in stunned silence. Then she approached Jay, smirking.

"There's going to be a veritable bonfire in the city square tomorrow," she taunted him. "And I'm going to give you a complimentary front-row seat. How's that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I know your secrets, Jay." She got up in his face, so close that he could smell her breath. "After all, I confer with the Queen herself. I know of your magic."

He shuddered.

"You see, I actually don't care about carrying out the queen's laws against magic. What I needed was an excuse to search for a magic key...the sort that opens portals between worlds. When my search proved unsuccessful, I decided - quite recently, in fact - that perhaps I should just make my own. Of course, doing that requires dangerous, evil, and forbidden sorcery. Oh, well. The ends justify the means.

"Unfortunately, I myself am not magical. I can do sorcery, but not a speck of true magic. To make the magic key, I must imbue the power of another in it. Which is what makes it so heinous. But if you die, your magic dies with you. So I'll have to keep you alive for now...until I can drain you of your power."

"You _witch_ ," Jay growled (well, his actual language was stronger than that.) The soldiers towed him out of the room. The chamber fell eerily silent. Cassandra was alone with Lukas now, something that truly terrified him.

"Hello, my little blond harlot...did you miss me?" she purred, striding towards him. Not only were his hands tied, but his ankles were bound also, keeping him from backing away.

"Leave me alone," he said, his voice trembling.

Cassandra got way too close for comfort. She looked him up and down as she walked past, admiring his lean figure and the outline of his muscles through his clothes.

"My offer still stands," she reminded him. "I'm giving you a choice...you can have me, or you can have the pyre. You have this night to think about it. Make your choice by morning."

 _In te, Domine, speravi_

 _Kyrie eleison_

 _Salvum fac populum tuum._

 _[In you, Lord, I have trusted]_

 _[Lord, have mercy]_

 _[Save Your people.]_


	22. Chapter 22

_Agnus Dei_

 _Qui tollis peccata mundi_

 _Agnus Dei_

 _Dona nobis pacem_

Fragile gray light struggled to squeeze through the grate on the prison window. A trembling, sleep-deprived Lukas watched the tiny square of silver light creep across the stones. How could he have slept? He knew that, just beyond the walls of the prison, people were setting up a pyre. _His_ pyre. He was going to burn. The judge was not going to kill him by merely stringing him from a tree or breaking his neck with an axe. He'd be tied to a bier and burnt to ashes like a cast-off twig. Everyone has a last day, and Lukas knew it. He hadn't imagined, though, that his would come so soon.

A tear dripped down his cheek and splashed on the floor. So this is what it felt like to know that you were going to die in just a couple hours. And not just knowing that you'd die, but also slowly, painfully, and publicly. That was, Lukas guessed, like the time when someone else had dreaded what was to come, in an olive garden on a Thursday night.

His cell door creaked open. Lukas looked up, then felt a shiver rattle his spine when he saw Judge Cassandra standing in the doorway. She strode into the cell, kicked the door shut behind her, and approached him. She had a glint of unsatisfied desire in her eyes.

"Good morning, my little blond whore," she purred. "Did you sleep well?"

"Get away from me," Lukas said in a trembling voice, backing up.

"Honestly, I don't see why you need to be so hostile. The rest of the outlaw filth will be exterminated, but I'm giving you the chance to stay alive. Don't you want that?"

"Not on the conditions you're offering." He hobbled back a step.

"It'll be worth it, I promise." She drew in, close enough for her to cup her hand under his chin. She tilted his chin back, forcing him to look into her eyes. He winced at the feeling of her body hovering so close to his.

"No!" Lukas protested. "I won't do it."

"It won't be so bad," she insisted, stroking his neck. "If you have your inhibitions, we can even get married first. I would be fine with that."

"No," Lukas insisted, his eyes wide in fear. The cold sweat of anxiety beaded up on his back.

"Don't you see?" she asked in a ragged voice. "How can you pass up this opportunity? I can save you from a terrible death. I have so much to offer you. How can you not take it up? Just. Say. Yes."

"No!"

"YES! I can't take it anymore!" Cassandra suddenly grabbed hold of his shoulders. She shoved him back and pinned him against the wall. Her emotions had overtaken her reason, her ability to stay cold and calm. Now, not able to control herself, she planted a forceful, passionate kiss on his lips, while running her hands over his shoulders and down his back to feel the contours of his body. Lukas panicked and struggled to free himself from this assault.

"Help! Get her away from me!" he shouted, hoping that someone would step in before Cassandra took this too far. He didn't doubt that she would. She was fine with harassing him in a church, so what would stop her from forcing herself on him in a dungeon?

But a second later, seeing his horrified reaction, Cassandra realized what she'd done. She let go of him and backed up frantically. Clearly, waves of shame were washing over her. In her panic, as well as her pride, she tried to direct them back on Lukas.

"It's your fault," she accused him. "If you weren't such an immodest, scandalous _harlot_ , this wouldn't have happened. You shouldn't have tempted me. You made me have this lust for you. You lit this fire in me."

"W-What?"

"Now you will go to the pyre like you deserve, with the whole city watching. And do you know what they'll say? They'll _cheer_ while you burn. They'll laugh at you while you cry out in agony. They'll mock you while you suffer."

"No! They won't," Lukas insisted.

The judge just laughed nervously. "How naive are you? They love to see blood. It's entertaining for those low types."

"They don't think that," he said again. "I won't give in to you, Cassandra. I'm never going to choose you."

That did it. The judge growled in frustration, paced a few steps quickly, and for a second, looked like she was going to try jumping on him again. She seemed to be getting more unhinged by the minute.

"You won't have me? You don't think I'm good enough for you filth? The High Judge of Murex isn't good enough for a piece of gypsy filth? Oh, what a world!" She let out a mad laugh. "So be it. So be it! You've made your choice. Since you won't have me, you can have the fire. Both in this world and the next one!"

Cassandra let out another bout of maddened laughter and ran out of the cell in a flash of red hair. A heavy door slammed at the end of the corridor. Lukas, feeling violated, slumped down on the floor. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He glanced up at the stones in the walls, noticing how the intersections of them formed cross shapes.

"They say you're merciful," he said aloud. "I hope that's true...oh, what am I talking about? You won't have mercy on an outcast like me."

Lukas paused. A bit of water dripped from the ceiling and landed in a puddle on the floor.

"Or would you? I mean, you probably know how this feels, don't you? Accused of things you didn't do...killed for them. You were sort of an outcast, too, weren't you? Huh. Well, if you're listening, and if you would...please help one of the outcasts?

"I don't want to die…"

[Lamb of God]

[Who takes away the sin of the world]

[Lamb of God]

[Grant us Your peace]

* * *

Iron bit at Jay's wrists. His shoulders ached with the pressure of his own weight pulling on them. His feet hung off the ground, separated from the power of the earth, and were entombed in iron manacles. He was chained up in the high tower of the castle, overlooking the square below. There a pyre stood, a pile of firewood with a stake standing up in the middle. The judge's soldiers were already posted there.

Jay grunted in discomfort and made another attempt at escaping his chains. With his feet suspended from the ground (contact would give him connection to the earth and allow him escape) and his arms pulled out and above his head, he looked quite messianic. Jay noticed the parallel, wondering if it was ironic or prophetic. There had to be a way out of this - he wasn't ready to accept defeat. He was not going to watch his friend be sacrificed to the flames of hatred. Nor was he going to allow Cassandra to steal his powers and use them for evil.

Oh, but if it didn't feel like she was close to doing that. She'd thrown everyone caught in the catacomb raid into the castle dungeon, along with Queen Olivia herself. Cassandra essentially owned Murex now. Following her mutiny, she used her newfound authority to track down and capture everyone else who'd gotten in her way. All of Jay's allies were out of reach, out of sight - he was alone.

So alone.

Alone to face the horrors to come.

* * *

 _Judex crederis_

 _Libera me Domine_

 _Libera me Domine de morte aeterna_

The sky, gray just an hour ago, started to bleed with a deep red dawn. Cassandra, sensing that this was the time, gathered up some soldiers and went to the bowels of the dungeons to fetch her prisoner. The pyres were set up outside, awaiting the morning's displays of justice. Face twisted with anger, she marched down the steps, into the corridor, and up to the cell of the condemned. At the sight of her, Lukas tensed up and shuffled to the far wall of his cell.

"Your time is up, Lukas," she growled. "You've had enough time to make your decision. But before we go, I wanted to tell you something. Did you know about the blitzkrieg that I've brought on Murex trying to find you?"

"What?" he asked.

"Yes. I've been turning the kingdom upside down. Conducting raids, arresting people, even burning down houses and fields. And it was all to find you, a pesky gypsy. I didn't want to bring this suffering on the people, but your sneaking around and fleeing forced me to do it. They're suffering because of _you_."

"No," Lukas protested. "No, that isn't true."

"Really? If you had just turned yourself in, none of that would have happened. A little bit of compliance from you would have prevented the whole ordeal. But you valued your freedom over their lives, and look what happened."

Tears welled up in Lukas's eyes. Everything Cassandra was saying was a vicious lie, but he fell for it.

"Stow your tears. They won't get you anywhere. Nor will they earn you any sympathy from the crowd. I think they might enjoy watching the blond nuisance that you are, the source of their trouble, getting a taste of justice." Cassandra turned to her soldiers. "Get him out of the cell. Take him out to the courtyard. The fire awaits."

[Our Judge in Whom we believe]

[Free me, Lord]

[Free me, Lord, from eternal death]

* * *

Jay had ceased to try escaping from his chains. With a glassy expression, he looked out on the plaza below. A crowd had gathered there, held back by a line of soldiers carrying iron spears. A wood platform stood in the middle of the plaza. It had no over-bar, meaning there would be no hanging. Instead, a few soldiers were chopping up wood and throwing it into a pile at the base of a tall pole. A few prison carts were parked around the scaffold; Jay's friends sat inside them. He could see Petra, Ivor, Nell, and many more people crammed into the carts, probably next in line to be killed. And the judge was going to make him watch it.

The giant tower bell, hanging above him, suddenly tolled. The mighty tones sent tremors rattling through the whole tower, including Jay's chains. The high tower stood over the castle's chapel, and its bell was now chiming the signal of an impending execution.

A harsh drumbeat called everyone to attention. Judge Cassandra was the first one out. She wore a gown and cloak that were as dark as sin. Two of her soldiers followed her as escorts, toting axes. A few more brought up the back, with their weapons lowered and aimed at the back of their prisoner.

Lukas walked with his head drooped, barely fast enough to evade the spear points leveled at his back. His hands were chained together, with a soldier walking in front holding the tail end. Instead of his usual clothes, he was wearing the white tunic of death. He looked like an innocent lamb going to the slaughter.

"That's what he is," Jay muttered, shoulders sagging. It lowered him an inch or so closer to the stone floor of the tower room. He could sense his magic struggling to reach and connect with the energy in the stone, but it couldn't make it. If his feet couldn't touch the ground, his powers were useless. He couldn't even send signals through the metal chains wrapped around his wrists and arms. It seemed that all he could do was hang there and struggle in vain to escape.

The crowd chattered and murmured at the sight of Lukas. Supposedly, he was the gypsy who had caused them so much grief. The judge turned the kingdom and their lives upside down for his sake, and now they had a chance to see her give him "justice" for it. But they couldn't understand what he had done wrong.

Sensing their quiet feelings of dissent, the judge tried to turn them to her side. "People, good people of Murex. Behold, Lukas: a gypsy condemned by the law. Here and today, I will be giving him the just reward of his crimes."

"What crimes?" he cried, only for a guard to slap him and snarl at him to be quiet.

"He shall be executed by fire for the high crimes of illegal immigration into our kingdom, the practice of magic arts, and evading justice. All sorcerers must die. This evil magic has to be expunged from the borders of this land."

"What about the queen?" someone shouted from the crowd. "Is she all right with this?"

"Shut up!" the judge responded. "Of course the queen is fine with this. She gave the orders."

The crowd still didn't seem convinced. They glared at the soldiers holding them back and murmured quiet dissent. Cassandra's lip curled up in her disappointment; no-one called out for Lukas's blood, no-one mocked him, no-one cheered that he was about to die. Not the reaction she wanted.

Up in the tower, Jay heard the whole speech. His body started to shake, not with fear, but with anger. He unloaded a tirade of curses at Cassandra, wishing her all the torture on earth and all the furies of hell.

Cassandra's soldiers goaded Lukas toward the stake. They took off the chains on his arms, but with so many armed men surrounding the platform, he didn't have a prayer for escaping. The judge took a burning torch from one of her men, then approached Lukas.

"But even now," she told him in a hushed voice, "it's not too late. I can call this whole thing off. You just have to make the right choice."

He didn't say anything.

"We will see if the gypsy decides to recant," Cassie told the crowd. Then she leaned in, much too close, to him. He could smell her hot, rose-scented breath.

"Choose me, or choose the fire."

Lukas responded by striking her across the face. A gasp went up from the crowd as Casse recoiled. When she turned back to glare at him, the torch was cold compared to the fire in her eyes. She whipped around and faced the crowd.

" _He burns!"_

Lukas didn't even fight as the soldiers swarmed around him and grabbed him by the arms. He just kept a defiant glare aimed at Cassandra as they dragged him over to the pyre, forced him against it, and tied him to the pole. She gripped the torch with white knuckles.

"No!" Jay yelled from the tower, thrashing back and forth in his confines. Tears started to roll down his cheeks. The feeling of helplessness was killing him. The sense of his magic futilely seeking to connect with the earth's energy only made it worse. So this was how he ended; watching his friends get murdered, then having his magic stolen from him and being murdered as well. Could he even be thought a hero if this was happening? This wasn't how heroes died! He must have made a mistake. Must have fallen short. Even so, there was no fixing it now-it was too late. All there was to do was to let evil have its way with him.

But then he changed his mind.

With tears and sweat dripping from his face, his arm muscles screaming for relief, and his resolve nearly gone, Jay glanced up. Something clicked. It was time to move.

Cassandra held the torch high. "In accordance with my duties as High Judge, it's up to me to send this harlot where it belongs: hell."

Lukas heaved out short, panicked gasps as she lowered the torch, touching it to the wood at the base of the pyre. The timber caught fire and started to spread. Smoke floated up around him. It cast a curtain, a funeral pall, over the world. He could only hear: Cassandra laughing madly, the crowd shouting, the drums of death beating. He let out a panicked shriek.

Jay took action. He could feel the earth struggling to connect with him. He was willing to help. He stretched down as far as he could, desperate to just brush his foot against that blessed stone floor. He groaned in pain; he nearly pulled his arms out of joint doing so. _Please, please, please, let me make it!_

His feet touched the floor...

 _O salutaris hostia_

 _Quae caeli pandis ostium_

 _Bella premunt hostilia_

 _Der robur, fer auxilium_

Not powerless anymore.

Power surged through Jay's body. Despite his pain, he let out a wild, triumphant laugh. He pressed his feet harder into the ground, sending out waves of energy. The church tower shuddered; the pillars to which his chains were moored shook. He strained against his bonds one last time, now having the power of the earth coursing through them.

The stone pillars collapsed; the chains fell down around Jay, smashing to the floor. He landed safely and now, empowered, he could snap off his irons with ease. But he saved one chain. He wrapped one end around a surviving pillar that held up the roof. It would be the strongest thing to use as his anchor. Jay held on to the other end of the chain. He slicked his hair back, then glanced over his shoulder. A cross, surrounded by figures of the saints, stood at the opposite end of the room.

"Support me, God!"

He leapt off the tower.

[O Saviour, saving Victim]

[Who opens the gates of heaven]

[Our enemies besiege us]

[Give us strength, bring us aid]

He leapt.

The wind roared in Jay's ears. Air surged around him. He had a chain of metal enforced by stone as his lifeline; without it, he'd be freefalling to his death. He swung around and landed on the side of the tower. The faithful stone bricks absorbed the impact and gave him support as he wall-ran to gain more momentum, then swung straight for the burning pyre.

Jay let go of the rope and tumbled onto the platform. Several guards, stunned by his sudden appearance, shouted at each other and ran at him with spears drawn. In a surge of adrenaline, he ripped up chunks of rock and heaved them at the soldiers, knocking them off the platform.

Lukas leaned forward on the pyre, nearly passed out from the smoke enveloping him. Jay jumped through the smoke and avoided the fire. He grabbed the ropes that held Lukas and, through some power he wasn't sure was entirely his own, tore them right off. He lifted up Lukas, slung him onto his back, and grabbed the still-swinging chain.

Cassandra saw the whole thing, but didn't react quickly enough. Jay was on a rampage. She let out a loud snarl in her fury, then rushed to climb back onto the scaffold.

"You!" she screamed at Jay, just in time for him to get a running start and leap off the platform again. He swung away, returning to the chapel tower. His feet collided with the wall again, the stone absorbing the shock. It molded around his feet and gave him leverage as he climbed the tower with his rescued friend. Arrows flew at him, prompting him to move faster. The soldiers were trying to take him down.

He wouldn't go down.

 _Sit sempiterna gloria_

 _Sit sempiterna gloria_

 _Sit sempiterna gloria_

He reached the top.

Jay, carrying Lukas on his back, hoisted his body over the railing. They both tumbled to the ground. The crowd below roared - he couldn't tell if they were angry or happy for him, but he didn't care. He picked up Lukas in his arms, held him high over his head, and cried out at the top of his lungs.

"Sanctuary!"

[May You always be praised]

[May You always be praised]

[May You always be praised]

"Sanctuary!"

"Sanctuary! I claim sanctuary for him!"

 _Gloria, gloria semper_

[Glory, glory forever]


	23. Chapter 23

**Hi. I know it's been a while since I updated. My mental health hasn't been that good lately and it's making it kinda hard for me to write. I'm trying my best. Sorry.**

Jay's shoulders heaved with his quick, shallow breaths. His arm muscles screamed protest from all the abuse they'd just endured. The entire crowd gawked up at the church tower, where he had just claimed sanctuary for his doomed friend. Jay breathed out a deep sigh of relief and lowered Lukas, cradling him in his arms. Adrenaline still coursed through his system, not really giving him any time to celebrate his accomplishment. He carried his friend into the shelter of the tower room, looking for a place to set him down. Spotting a bench with some blankets draped over it, he supposed that would do as good as any, and he laid Lukas across it.

"Hey," he whispered. "Lukas?"

The blond man had passed out at the pyre from the smoke inhalation, but the soft rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive. He wasn't undamaged, though. He reeked of woodsmoke, and soot coated his body. He had some burns on his feet from the fire getting so close. His breath was slow and sounded ragged.

"It's okay," Jay told him. "You're gonna be okay. You are safe here."

How Jay wished he knew healing magic! He could have Lukas's injuries healed in a moment if he had just a smidge of study in that. But what could he do with the powers he had? He didn't see how rocks or ferns could help his friend that much. If only he had Nell up here to mix up some plant-based salve…

Nell and the others! Jay scrambled to the balcony and leaned over it for a look. His friends and allies were still locked up in their cages, and who was to say that Cassandra wouldn't make them a target of her murderous rage over failing to kill Lukas?

Cassandra's soldiers stood around awkwardly, while the judge herself screamed obscenities and barked orders. They had their weapons drawn, including bows, but seemed very hesitant to shoot any arrows at Jay. This drove the judge mad.

"What are you waiting for?" she yelled at them. "The damn sorcerer is right there! Looking and laughing at us. Do something! And get the gypsy, too!"

"But ma'am," one of them protested, "the laws of sanctuary. He claimed sanctuary. We cannot invade a holy place."

"I am the Judge! Forget the laws of sanctuary. Get them!"

"But how?"

She looked around, then spotted a hefty log lying near the platform with the still-burning pyre. It must have been a leftover from cutting the firewood. She pointed at it.

"That beam. Use it to ram open the doors."

The soldiers, more afraid of Cassandra than the repercussions for attacking the church, picked up the heavy log and aimed it at the castle doors. With a "heave-ho," they ran forward with it and bashed it against the church doors. The doors rattled but did not give in.

"It didn't work," they told their boss.

"Then do it again!"

* * *

Nell pressed against the bars in the prison cart. "Oh my God! Cassandra is trying to break into the church. Look!"

She was corralled in the cart with Petra, Olivia, Nohr, and Ivor. Most of them had given up hope when they saw Cassandra set fire to Lukas's pyre, but got it back when Jay made his heroic rescue. But now it left them wondering what they were supposed to do. Judging by how furious Cassandra was at this point, they had best figure it out quickly.

"What?" Olivia said, jostling to get over to Nell. "She's doing WHAT?"

"And again!" Cassandra shouted as her soldiers slammed the battering ram into the church doors, which shuddered from the force. Olivia let out a gasp.

"No! She can't do that - she knows she can't. She can't violate sanctuary. It's the law!"

"That bitch thinks she _is_ the law now," Petra said.

"I'm so sorry," Olivia said, tears running from her eyes. "This is all my fault. If I had just stopped for a second to think-"

Petra put her hands on the queen's shoulders to calm her down. "Don't worry about that right now. No-one is angry at you. We have to cooperate if we're going to stop the crazy Judge."

"It looks like Jay and Lukas are gonna need our help." Nell took charge of the situation. "If we can break out of this cart, we can fight her soldiers."

"But we don't have any weapons," Petra protested. "I can fight, but not with my bare hands."

"If there's water around, I'm armed. But you know what else? Power to the proletariat." She pointed to the crowds that the soldiers struggled to hold back. "They're furious with the Judge. A couple dozen soldiers, tough as they are, can't take on a couple _hundred_ angry people."

"But the people don't have any weapons, either."

"Pitchforks, hatchets, shovels, sickles, pickaxes. Who said they aren't armed?"

"Nell, you're a genius!"

"Now if we can just figure out how to break out of this cart..." Olivia glanced around at the latticework of iron bars holding them captive.

"I'll take care of that," Ivor volunteered. "Nothing a little lock-breaking spell can't handle."

Petra glared at him. "You mean we could have broken out of here at any time?! What gives?"

"I couldn't do it with _her_ watching!" He gestured at the Judge, who was still barking orders at her men to bash down the doors. "She'd have us all killed where we stand. Also, I do sorcery better when I have my wand, and I'm not getting that back anytime soon."

"Okay, fine, good point. So you can't do it?"

"I can do it now. She isn't watching."

"Then do your thing, Ivor," Olivia said. "I won't arrest you for it after this. I'm rescinding my ban on magic once this mess is over."

"Not to offend, young lady, but the legality of my magic is the least of my concerns right now." Ivor turned aside from them, held out his hand at the lock, and started chanting the spell to break it. Because he didn't have his wand, his sorcerer powers were quite impeded, so he had to recite it several times and get the pronunciation exactly correct for it to work. But eventually the shackle on the lock snapped, and it fell to the ground.

"Who's going to rouse the rabble?" Olivia asked, pushing the cart door open.

"I'll do it," Nell offered, exiting their cage. She gripped the bars and used them as a ladder to climb on top of the cart. The others slipped out as well. She balanced atop the cart, just as the soldiers guarding them took notice of their escape.

"Get down from there, and get back in your cage!" they shouted at her, pointing their swords.

Nell responded by using her magic to pull water out of the well nearby and slap them with a water-whip. They went down, stunned long enough for Olivia, Petra, and Ivor to steal their weapons. When the soldiers got up, they reached for their swords, only to realize that their prisoners had the blades now.

"Uh-oh."

Petra twirled the sword. "Uh-oh indeed."

"Now, now, Petra. Let's not get hasty…" they stammered. "Put the sword down...we can talk this out, can't we?"

She glared. "That's _Sir_ Petra to you."

* * *

"You idiots! Don't you know how to ram a door?" Cassandra snarled at her soldiers. "We should be inside that church by now. What are you doing? Are you even trying?"

"Heave-ho!" the soldiers grunted, then made one final charge. They slammed the battering ram into the doors. The wood splintered, then broke apart, leaving a hole large enough for a person to climb through. The men dropped the heavy log, then paused to catch their breaths. Sweat ran down their faces from the exertion.

"I have to do everything myself," she grumbled, then grabbed a sword from the scabbard of a tired soldier nearby. Toting the glimmering steel blade, she climbed through the hole in the church door with nary a second thought and invaded the sanctuary. For the High Judge not only violate sanctuary, but to do so by carrying a weapon into a place of holy peace, was unthinkable.

Well, at least the church would do its best to repel her and her violence from within its walls. As Cassandra stormed over to the stairs to get to the bell tower, a woman in white and blue robes got in her way. A hood covered the woman's hair and a wooden cross hung from her neck. It was the Archdeaconess, the one person who didn't fear the High Judge.

"Stand down!" she said, holding out her hand at the Judge. "Cassandra Rose, I will not tolerate this assault on the house of God! What are you thinking?"

"Get out of my way, you prude," Cassandra responded, jostling the Archdeaconess to get past her.

"No!" The deaconess resisted, so the judge shoved her down. The woman's feet slipped and she fell down the stairs to the floor. Too injured to pursue Cassandra and stop her, the Archedeaconess lay there helpless as the Judge continued her murderous march.

"This is not right and you know it," was the Archdeaconess's warning to the Judge. "Those who live by the sword will die by the sword."

"Save it for the pulpit. I will rip Jay's magic out of him spark by spark if I have to," Cassandra muttered under her breath, and continued up the stairs, sword tip scraping on the floor.

* * *

"Hold them back!" Nell shouted to her friends. "Please. I need to get the crowd's attention. And hurry! Cassandra just broke into the church."

Petra, Olivia, and Ivor wielded their reclaimed swords to keep the soldiers back and away from Nell as she prepared to rouse the rabble. But it soon became clear that Petra was the only one among them who knew anything about how to use a sword. The others swung wildly and lunged much too slowly. The former captain found herself having to bark quick instructions to them between lunges and blocks.

Meanwhile, Nell scoped out the crowd. They were torn between watching the mayhem at the church doors or the skirmish in the prison carts. Now that Cassandra had successfully broke into the church, though, more of them had turned to the scene unfolding with the budding resistance. Nell took full advantage of that.

"Hey, all of you!" she yelled to the crowd. "We need your help! _Murex_ needs your help! Cassandra is no Judge; she is nothing more than a murderer and tyrant. Too many good, innocent people have died because of her - you just saw that almost happen."

Angry muttering went up from the people. Nell nodded and continued her speech.

She thrust her arm out in a mighty gesture. "And look! Now she has invaded the church! Violated a sacred space! Will you still comply with her after all this?"

A loud, glorious "NO!" from a thousand voices was the response. The guards pointed their weapons, but the people were irascible at this point.

"Then take up your shovels and sickles, good people of Murex, because it is time to _rebel_. If the law is unjust...break the law!"

Just as she predicted, a surge of common people broke out in riot. Tools and farm equipment flashed in the morning sun, clanging against spearheads and sword blades. The peasants were fighting the soldiers, and it was thrilling. Nell jumped off the prison cart and defended herself from incoming guards with water-whips and spinning kicks. Adrenaline pumped through her, emboldening her to fight her hardest even without a weapon. She thought of Jay up in the church tower, with the evil judge out for blood, and prayed he'd be all right.

* * *

Jay scampered back from the balcony, dodging the arrows flying at him. Cassandra's soldiers clustered at the foot of the church tower, attempting to shoot him down with their bows. He was outnumbered at least ten to one, but tried not to panic. After all, in a way, he was stronger than them. If they could attack up, he could defend down.

He twisted his feet into the stone floor, dislodging big chunks of rock with his magic. He picked them up, along with the broken pieces of the collapsed pillars, and heaved them over the balcony. The soldiers yelled in surprise and ran for cover from the falling bombs, but some weren't fast enough. The rocks smashed to the ground, crushing anything unfortunate enough to be under them. He winced as the rocks impacted, knowing that he probably killed a couple of men just now.

"This is war, isn't it?" he muttered, scanning the room for more ammunition. Of course there wouldn't be any weapons in a church tower, so he had to make do. Ripping too much stone out of the floor would destabilize the church tower and possibly make it collapse in on itself. Then he found some bars of lead stacked in the back of the room. They were for melting down and repairing damaged bells, but he repurposed them. After dragging them over to the balcony, he used a few strategically thrown bars to take out more of the soldiers.

" _Deus vult_!" he yelled at them, hyped up on the thrill of battle. " _Deus vult!_ "

"Jay?" a quiet, groggy voice behind him asked. He ceased his battery for a minute to turn around and look. Lukas had woken, and now started to sit up. He coughed, his lungs still full of smoke.

"It's all right, Lukas," Jay reassured him. "I've got this."

Suddenly the door to the tower room rattled. It shook as though someone was beating on it. Before Jay could investigate, it burst open, and his worst nightmare stood in the threshold.

"Ah-ha! End of the line, Jay." Judge Cassandra's eyes gleamed with murderous glee. "Let's see. Who should I kill first? You or the gypsy?"

She held a sword and her eyes darted back and forth between Jay and Lukas. The blond man looked terrified, but was still too weak to flee from her. He slid off the bench and tumbled onto the floor, then struggled to rise to his feet.

"You're a judge, Cassandra," Jay teased. "We should make this a fair fight. Battle me first. At least I have a fighting chance."

"Ha! Not for long. But as you wish, warlock. Once I'm done with you-" She kicked Lukas, making him groan in pain. "-this one's next. And this time, I will just kill him right away. I don't want to sleep with him anymore. I want this whore dead."

"Hey, watch your language." Jay hoped that taunting her would help him exploit her anger. "After all, we're in a church. God is watching."

"How quaint," the judge sneered. She sheathed the sword and whipped out a black wand instead. She barked out something foul in magic language. Dark pink magic shot out of the wand's tip and launched at Jay.

"Whoa!" He only barely dodged clear of it. "What the-How do you know sorcery?"

"You don't know everything about me," she said with a smirk. She swiped the wand through the air and tried to cast another curse. Jay veered left to avoid it. He and the judge circled each other on the tower floor. As she whipped the wand back and forth, launching curses wildly at him, he tried to hide his shock. How the _hell_ was it that Cassandra went on a bloody crusade against magic when she herself knew sorcery?

"If you know sorcery, how could you hunt down other magic people?" Jay dodged another incoming spell. "You hypocrite!"

"Ha," she scoffed. "That's not the worst thing I've been called. You don't know what it's like to be me."

"I don't think I want to know, either."

"Silence. You have not the slightest idea what it is like to be trapped in this rotten world, the wrong world, for years. I do not belong here. I do not belong in this disgusting human body. Years and years of this torment has brought me to what I am, Jay. At this point, there is nothing I will not do to get back home. Manipulation, murder...even ripping your magic out of you piece by piece."

"No!"

"Oh, yes. I need your magic to power my spell." She raised her wand. "So I'll have to take it from you with my sorcery. I have heard that it is very traumatic, too. You may feel rather...defiled after I'm done."

" _No!_ "

She glared and shot him with the curse. " _Yes._ "

The evil energy coursed through him, invading his nerves and bloodstream. He could feel his magic ebbing away gradually, as if it was spilling out of a wound. Pain replaced it, radiating through all his nerves. He cried out in distress. Cassandra watched and cackled.

"I bet you thought I wouldn't be able to do that, eh?" she taunted. "Thanks for your help, Jay."

With her free hand, she cast a second spell. The magic she'd stolen from Jay, represented by a swirl of vibrant green energy, formed itself into a vague key shape. It was the magic key to her true world. Jay could only watch, disconsolate. So the bad guy really was going to win after all.

"Why so sad, Jay? Don't you get it? Life is not a fairy tale. You don't get a happily ever after just because you're a good person. Good things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people. It's a twisted fact of life."

"That's not...right…" he grunted through his pain.

"You want to debate that, bring it up with God," she retorted. "After all, I'll be sending you right to Him as soon as I'm done here."

That did it for Lukas. He gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet, something that the Judge did not see because her back was turned. Nor did she see him as he picked up a glass shard from a broken mirror and snuck up behind her.

But she did notice when he used it to slice her hand. She yelled out in pain and dropped her wand. This stopped her assault on Jay. Cassandra dove down to grab the wand, but Lukas fended her off. Before she could retrieve it, he stomped down on it, breaking it in half.

"No! No-no-no-no!" The magic key that Cassandra was trying to make flickered. She hadn't extracted all of Jay's magic yet; the key didn't have enough power. It started to fade away. She reached out and grasped it, but it dissolved into mist in her hand. Horrified, she watched the breeze blow away her chance of escaping, then turned on Lukas with a new fire in her eyes.

He stood his ground. He wasn't scared of her anymore.

She unloaded a stream of obscenities at him. "You ruined my chance! You will regret this, harlot!"

She went for the sword she left on the ground earlier. Sweeping it up into her hands, she pointed its tip at Lukas's throat. He backed up, but kept a brave face.

"I'm not a harlot," he said through gritted teeth. The glass shard wouldn't work against a sword. He reached behind him, searching for something he could use. His fingers brushed against a bronze acolyte's staff. That would do.

"It doesn't matter anymore. _Die_." Cassandra swiped the sword at him, intending to decapitate him. But he swung the staff around just in time and parried the blow. When she made another slash at him, he blocked it. Sword clashed against staff again and again, all the while Lukas praying that his defense would hold up.

Meanwhile, Jay searched for a way to get the upper hand in this fight. Lukas was still very weak, and he wouldn't hold up against Cassandra for long. The mad judge - no, _whatever_ she was - would only stop when she'd killed them both out of revenge. As much as it made him squeamish to think, Jay realized the only way to put her out of commission was the ultimate solution.

Lukas went down, exhausted from swinging the staff to block the Judge's attacks. Jay saw it and dove in to retrieve the staff. Scooping it up, he met and parried Cassandra's slashing attack.

"Defending him, eh?" she sneered, twirling the sword.

He didn't dignify her with an answer. He looked past her and looked at the stained glass windows on the other side of the room. With a little bit of nudging…

"I don't belong in this rotten world," Cassandra growled. She still wouldn't let up, but her attacks seemed a bit weaker now. With every exchange of blows, Jay managed to nudge her closer to the windows.

"Yeah, I know where you belong," he retorted. "The pits of hell."

"Why, you!" She lunged her sword at him. "You should be strung from the castle wall for this."

"I don't get it! How can you kill sorcerers when you are one?"

"You're so naive. They aren't your friends just because they have the same powers as you. How dumb could you be?"

"Uh…"

"Being that trusting will only get you killed, boy."

She was nearly up against the wall by now. Jay's heart pounded. He had to do it.

"Being this _evil_ will only get _you_ killed." He swiped the staff at her. Cassandra stumbled back to avoid it, tripped on a loose rug, and fell backwards. She crashed into the window, shattering it in a mess of blue and red bits of glass. Jay saw only her wide-eyed expression of terror before she disappeared out the window, falling to the ground below. He heard a scream and a hard thud, then winced.

He dropped the acolyte staff.

Lukas rose to his feet. "Is she…?"

"Gone. Yes."

 _The violence of the wicked will drag them away, for they refuse to do what is right._

 _Proverbs 21:7_


End file.
